Episode 302: Training for Grit – Why Do So Many Executives Love IRONMAN and Triathlon?
Follow the Purple Patch Podcast at:
APPLE PODCASTS - SPOTIFY- AMAZON MUSIC - GOOGLE PODCASTS - YOUTUBE
Throughout our coaching journey, we have shared numerous stories of success in training top-tier triathletes and C-suite executives who strive to achieve and maintain high performance in their personal and professional lives. Over two decades of coaching both groups, we have observed strong parallels in the challenges they face and the solutions to those challenges that are universally applicable.
In this week's episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon highlights those elements by focusing on executives and CEOs. He delves deeper into the reasons why many of them choose to take on the Ironman Triathlon, one of the world's most challenging sporting events. How have so many been successful at adapting to the demands of training and preparation while maintaining efficiency in their professional roles?
(11:27) Let's consider the typical executive - massive competing demands at work, the requirement for each of them to show up their very best every single day. All of them requiring capacity to respond to uncontrollable and unexpected events, market forces, the pandemic. And often doing all of this in the workplace, managing all of those competing demands, while also having a really engaged and very busy home and family life. So the obvious question to me is, you have a time-starved executive, who then decides to add in a journey to IRONMAN. The obvious question you always get is, how do they fit it all in? How is that possible?
Matt explores these questions by sharing insights he has gained from coaching executives over the years and offering perspective on how they achieve a balance between all of their competing demands. He also examines the overall appeal of Iron Man and why it draws so many athletes to the challenge year after year. Matt highlights the benefits of pursuing such a demanding goal and the positive impact it has on every aspect of an executive's life.
With compelling research to support his observations, Matt details the lessons we can all apply to our own lives, regardless of our profession or background.
(38:23) If you're listening today, and you haven't started your performance journey, I'm not saying in order for you to be successful, you need to be a CEO, you need to be an executive, you need to sign up for an Ironman, none of that. But we can draw lessons from it. Because we can join the dots and realize that a journey of sport, health, fitness, whatever that means to you, is going to impact positively how you show up in life.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - 03:58 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
03:59 - 7:05 - Word of the Week
07:12 - 40:27 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 300: So You Want To Qualify for the IRONMAN World Championships - Matt’s 10 Essential Tips
Purple Patch and Episode Resources
Purple Patch Video Podcast and More
Click here for the SPECIAL Fuelin Landing Page
2024 Purple Patch Performance Camps - SIGN UP NOW for our Napa Valley and South Carolina Training Camps
We've reimagined indoor cycling - Find out more about Purple Patch Bike Live & On-Demand
Come try the Purple Patch Tri-Squad
More on Purple Patch Bike Live & On-Demand
Get a Free Taste of Purple Patch Strength
ORDER NOW - 2024 PURPLE PATCH APPAREL
Everything you need to know about the Purple Patch Methodology
Join the Purple Patch Team
The Purple Patch Center is Open - Learn More and Schedule a Visit
Purple Patch Coaching Consultation
Learn more about our Tri Squad Program
This episode is sponsored by our collaboration with INSIDE TRACKER. Inside Tracker and Purple Patch- Receive 20% off their services with code: PURPLEPATCHPRO20
Ask Matt Anything - Leave a voicemail question for Matt
Learn more about Purple Patch Squad High-Performance Training Program
Join Bike Squad - Don’t just exercise and work out; learn to train with our structured online cycling program
Join Run Squad - Increase your running performance through our progressive, multi-sport approach to running
Learn more about Purple Patch Fully Customized 1:1 Coaching
Learn more about Purple Patch Strength Programming
Stay Up-to-Date with Purple Patch News and Events
Full Transcript
Matt Dixon 00:00
I'm Matt Dixon and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere, integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 00:24
If you're anything like me, you have to work to manage a lot of competing demands in life. It's just a part of the fabric of the journey that we take on. In today's show, we're going to dig into a population that has to match almost ridiculous competing demands. Amongst all of them, they decided to take on the challenge of training and competing in Ironman racing. Now we're going to unpack all of that. But why is it that high-performing executives love to take on this journey? Well, it's a challenge for one thing. And I think when you listen to today, you're going to be able to draw some of the perspective and lessons into the fabric of your journey. But one of the tools that I leverage for this group, and it applies to you to help you shine across daily life, is InsideTracker. And that's because we can get precise with the actions, the habits, and the interventions that are going to enable you to show up daily to maximize your health, your daily energy, and of course, your cognitive function. And it's very simple, you don't need to be a part of Purple Patch to take advantage, all you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch, that's insidetracker.com/purplepatch, and use this sneaky code Purple Patch pro 20, that's Purple Patch Pro two zero, you get 20% off everything at the store. Alright, let's dig in. It's a fun one today, enjoy the show.
Matt Dixon 01:57
And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast as ever, your host, Matt Dixon. And if you've been a regular listener to the show, well, you probably are aware of my track record around elite athletic performance. Along our journey, I've shared many stories about some of the successful professional triathletes that I lead. People like Chris Lieto and Chelsea Sodaro, Jesse Thomas, Sarah Piampiano, and the list goes on. But you're also probably equally aware, that throughout those years, in parallel, I also guided and coached some accomplished executives. And the quest for most of these executives was to foster sustained high performance in the workplace. And of course, that extends beyond the workplace into broader life. It's been a fascinating journey for me, I got to work with world-class athletes, chasing world-class performance, and equally high achievers in business, who face massive demands, albeit in a different environment. Now, I had an aha moment, somewhere along the way, I can't label it down to the month or day. But over the two decades of this type of coaching, it was compelling to me that there were such strong parallels in the challenges that these very diverse groups of people face. And interestingly, the key solutions to those challenges were universally applicable. The same. Ultimately, performance is performance. And what I want to do today is I want to shine the light on one of these groups. We spend a lot of time talking about professional athletes, today, I want to focus the discussion around executives and CEOs. And particularly one question, why do so many executives and CEOs choose to take on an enormous challenge that makes up the Ironman Triathlon? Think about it, not just once. But again, and again, you might assume that their quest is driven by ego. But I think it's something much bigger than that. More important than that. Now, if you're not a CEO, and let's face it, most of us are not, don't switch off. Because when you hear the answer to that question when I dig into it, I think you're going to realize that the lessons that we can draw apply to anyone listening. And so what gives? Why do so many of these incredibly busy folk choose to take on and add into a very busy life one of the most challenging endurance events that's possible? Isn't it just dumping more on their plate? isn't their life and their work performance going to suffer? We're going to dig in. But before we do that, I have got some news for you. So let's do it. Barry Matt's News-ings
Matt Dixon 04:52
Yes, folks, Matt's News-ings. I've got two pieces of news today. And I thought as we're talking about performance in the workplace today, particularly around executives, it bubbled up to me, that we've been getting a lot of reach out over the last months and requests for Purple Patch and myself to deliver some form of programming to teams in the corporate space. And it must be something that I've organically been putting out there into the universe in a manner of speaking, because this has been a concerted area of development for us over the last two to three years. Now, let's say very patient development. But we do have a suite of offerings that are tailored to your team and organization from having me come and speak in person, all the way up through our flagship program, which is a 12-month program of transformation for both individuals and teams. Now, if you love the show, if you embrace the messaging, and you'd like to explore some of our offerings, I'd be happy to send you a little bit of a review, no worries at all. You can see whether I can be of service to you, or maybe your team. Our program is not traditional coaching, I should point that out. It is elite athletic coaching all applied to the corporate setting, all you need to do is reach out to us directly at info@PurplePatchfitness.com. If you want to see how we've organized and structured these offerings, there is a lot of fun. But most importantly, they can create some transformation and help you and your whole team establish a high-performance mindset. It's good fun. So reach out to us. And we'll tell you what we have. Also, while I've got you here, squad, we are in transformation. As we speak, you might have heard that the training app we've been utilizing for the last five years or more today's plan is shutting down. wah wah wah. Yes, we got our backs pushed firmly against the wall, ladies and gentlemen, because it is our training delivery tool for every Purple Patch program. You can just imagine what it was. And when we looked around, there was no other training app that could deliver the program the way that we had designed it. And so right before the holidays, December 22nd. We had some how do we say it adversity. That's exactly right. But in every piece of adversity, there is opportunity. So the first thing that Kelli and I thought of was, Oh no, this is challenging. But very quickly, we converted our mindset, how can we leverage this? How can we take this as an opportunity to fast-track some of the components? Well, right now, as we speak, as the show has been released, we are right in the midst of a transformation. And guess what the net result of it, perhaps serendipitous and a little lucky, but the whole program is now immeasurably improved from a user experience for our participants. Yes, we are partnering with Training Peaks to deliver all of our training. And the team at Training Peaks has been quite frankly, tremendous. They've done so much engineering work for us so that we can ensure that every Purple Patch athlete can retain all of the critical components of their prior program. But now gain access to it on a more user-friendly, robust, and intuitive platform. Two thumbs up. But in parallel, we also took action as a team within Purple Patch, because we accelerated something that we've been planning on and developing gradually over the last six months or so. And we are now knee-deep into building out a brand new Purple Patch learning platform and community education area. Now this is going to be a hub for Purple Patch athletes. But it's also going to be for you, the listener to the show, and other folks who are interested in the performance lifestyle. We're incredibly excited about this, and we're gonna release it in the coming month or two. Unfortunately, we can't release it exactly at the same time as they are transferred to training peaks, but it's just a few weeks behind. And when we release this, we're going to be able to open up to much deeper learning opportunities, things like courses into specific performance subjects you might be interested in greater access to myself and other experts who are either in or outside of the Purple Patch ecosystem. And the good news about all of this is that this is going to be a part of the Purple Patch coached program. So it becomes along with any program that you have but also accessible to you the listener. In other words, you don't need to be coached by Purple Patch to take advantage of our community and our resources and education. So I'm going to keep you in the loop on the progress of that over the coming weeks. And as soon as we have a release date as we draw closer, you'll be the first to know. But to sum it all up. Once again, we learn, that you might get ramped against a wall. The proverbial shit might hit the fan, but you don't need to wilt. Instead, you just need to get inventive. And sometimes it becomes a very fast growth opportunity. We've just experienced it ourselves and we're incredibly excited and I know the Purple Patch athletes are as well. Alright, so with that, that's Matt's News-ings. We are going to skip word of the week this week because we want to dive into, Yes folks, the meat and potatoes.
Matt Dixon 10:22
Here we are guys, the meat and potatoes. And the central question. Why are sports like IRONMAN appealing to high-performing executives? The reason this question fascinates me so much is because of the seeming paradox of the event challenge and who chooses to take it on. Let me paint a picture, an IRONMAN event, 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of bicycle riding, and you get off with a little transition, not enough time to even blow dry your hair, and you have to go and run a marathon 26.2 miles of running. It is a long day. And just think about all of the training that is required to get ready for an event like that. Now beyond the training, swim, bike, and run strength training, of course, what about the broader other considerations, equipment, nutrition, prioritizing sleep, and ensuring that the training that you are putting in is effective? And now let's consider the typical executive - massive competing demands at work, the requirement for each of them to show up their very best every single day. All of them require the capacity to respond to uncontrollable and unexpected events, market forces, and the pandemic. And often doing all of this in the workplace, managing all of those competing demands, while also having a really engaged and very busy home and family life. So the obvious question to me is, you have a time-starved executive, who then decides to add in a journey to IRONMAN. The obvious question you always get is, how do they fit it all in? How is that possible? Now in answering this question, there are so many lessons for all of us, that we can instantly apply to our life. So I want you to listen today and draw the aspects that are beneficial for you that you can take action on because it's quite inspirational when you hear my thoughts on the answer to this question. And so what follows is just simply my perspective, from guiding executives over the last two decades. But I've also got a little bit of compelling research to back up my observations.
Matt Dixon 12:50
So let's dig in. And what I thought we would do is start first, with the appeal, what attracts these high-performing executives to take on this lunacy? Something's got to spark, after all, these people are already very, very busy. The most precious commodity that they report is time. They have very full plates. But somewhere along the way, they have a bright idea. Oh, maybe I should go and register for Ironman, Texas. Really, why? Where there is undoubtedly appeal to these types of high performance. I think the first component Ironman specifically, is pretty iconic. It does have a brand with staying power. And in addition to it, you have the Hawaii Ironman World Championship. It's put up there, whether it is or it isn't, as the most demanding endurance challenge in sport. It's on the Big Island, you have the love of fields, and you have the history of the story. And of course, that's appealing to people that are committed, that have a will to win, that want to take on challenges and that's the most obvious appeal to it. But also, I think that the sport of triathlon itself also creates a complex challenge. After all, it's multidisciplinary. It includes swimming, biking, running, strength, training, nutrition, and a whole bunch of management. And that component is compelling. It's not just going from A to B as fast as you can, it has a really broad complex challenge, can I work this out? A third component to the appeal is an understanding that by taking on this complex challenge, you also get rewards because it is a sport in which your effort going in, with your commitment, actually can deliver quantifiable driven results. And that appeals to the psychology of many of these types of executives and aligns with their DNA. So it's doubtless, that these executives come to the sport for the challenge, the iconic nature. It’s ambitious, it’s iconic, it feeds their competitiveness, their pursuit of growth as individuals, so it aligns with who they are as a person. Now, tangentially, this feeds right into many of the traits that I've outlined over several most recent shows, high performers tend to have a constant passion for growth and improvement, for self-development. And so very few executives begin their quest for an Ironman finish with high confidence of success. They understand their success is only going to come about through some serious personal growth in many of the areas that make up this challenge. So I do believe that the multi-sport nature of it magnifies the challenge, magnifies the quest. And they understand whether it's consciously or subconsciously, they understand that personal growth is going to happen through this journey. And so it appeals to them. That's part of the big strength of the appeal. The draw is very strong. And so an executive, they take on the challenge, they register for their race, as I randomly picked out of the sky, Ironman, Texas, fantastic. Then they go and do their first Ironman, and Win, lose, or draw, they finish and then they pause, they reflect, and a ton of them stick around. They do it again. And often again. And again. It transcends so often, I would say it is the norm, to go from a single-time challenge, 'Can I complete an Ironman?' into an Ironman lifestyle. It becomes sticky. Some even get the brand of the event tattooed on their skin, Goodness me. Why? Well, this is where, for me, things get interesting.
Matt Dixon 17:25
A typical case study for me as a coach would be for an athlete like this to show up and kick off a coaching engagement with me, with a very singular race mindset. I've got 6, 9, 12, 18 months, and I'm going to get ready for Ironman X. This is what I am training for. And that's understandable. They've chosen to enter the race. Now I need some support and guidance. I don't know what I'm going to be doing here so I'm going to reach out to someone who can help me on the journey, and that's my role - to help unpack the components, organize it, integrate it into life so that they can be successful and ultimately achieve their goal, which is to finish an Ironman well, and hopefully be healthy, and ensure that the rest of the components of life them as a leader, then as a part of their family, none of that is compromised. So that's my role. And I understand it is clear, it's simple. And it's anchored on a very specific race day in the calendar. That's great. And that's the mindset of most joining executive athletes. But along our journey together, the typical case study is this evolves, it starts to shift a little bit, both in the perspective and also the mindset. Something happens along the way. The race and the goal. While it remains important, we're still defined, and we still need to get from A to B the start line to the finish line successfully and healthily without compromising the other components of life. None of that changes. However I noticed that the conversations that I started to have with the athletes became more broad, they started to stray outside of the bounds of just getting ready for this event. And this is when I know as a coach, that things are starting to go well. Because I think that the reason for this is that the athlete, in this case, the executive athlete is beginning to feel the benefits of the journey on the broader performance in life. Let me break this down a little bit. Time-starved, okay, absolutely established that a very busy executive, typically with a family, integrates the journey of an Ironman into life. Time-starved double underline bold, fantastic, massive competing demands, we've got it. They are now adding a major challenge and an event, the Ironman event on top of that already busy life, my role organize all of the components to ensure broad success and race readiness. Great.
Matt Dixon 20:14
The first question that I get from an executive, and it's training among gonna need to do for this. Or am I going to be able to fit it all in? Goodness me, it seems crazy. But the truth is, that when you get the journey, right, it ends up being a catalyst for broader performance improvement. Because I believe, and I've seen and shown that triathlon training fosters an absolute need for organization, planning, prioritization, and effectiveness. You know, you've heard the adage, if you want something done, give it to a busy person, this journey forces that, in fact, the training itself, when you start to get it, right shifts from how am I going to fit it all into becoming the framework of the organization to drive effectiveness in a broader area. So that's a really important component, and it's hard to wrap your head around until you've taken on the journey.
Matt Dixon 21:17
A second component is that consistent training, especially when it's effective training, in other words, executed at the right dose within the big bucket of stress that we all must manage, actually helps foster and develop a performance-ready state for daily life, it should be additive. In other words, if we are successful in managing and balancing all of the elements of the training program, then the net result is going to be bigger energy yields and those that are going to show up daily. So far from one of these athletes, executive athletes walking around like a zombie from training fatigue, it's actually, and it might sound paradoxical, but it's the reverse. Because success brings more energy, and greater engagement to all other aspects of life. A big part of the reason for this is that the coaching, the journey isn't just swim, bike, and run. So the plan or the workouts that I'm giving one of these types of athletes is just the first 10%, swim, bike run. That's the plan. That's just the prescription of some of the training that they're doing. But to be successful, it's much broader than that. It's deeper because we need to dial in other components that foster energy health, and daily performance readiness, that's aspects such as sleep and sleep quality, habits in eating hydration, not so that you don't get cramps on the run, but so that you can show up with greater energy throughout the day. You need to have the athlete start to become empowered and understand recovery, self-management, and integrating strength training, not just to improve performance in swim, biking, and running but to become a better functioning human being. So there is a really important global component, that when the executive athlete goes on the journey, they start to feel the benefits trickling out beyond them just getting ready for this event, they start to be able to show up better. And I think that's important.
Matt Dixon 23:34
Now a third component then, is the training habits, and what starts to occur with the experiences that they go through. I talked about them joining 6, 9, 12, 18 months whenever they come into the program. But that program is a journey. You can't get ready for an Ironman effectively, in just eight weeks, 12 weeks is never going to happen. All you can do is throw spaghetti at the wall or in this case a bunch of workouts at the wall, and hope that you stay healthy and hope that you show up ready to perform. But real success comes from embracing a journey. And as you go along that journey, each executive starts to develop and reinforce a mindset that is anchored in high performance. And the truth is that our brains are incredibly complex and small pieces of our body. But they receive training in one area. And it's very easy for that brain to then apply the lessons in any other area in life. And so in other words, and we've talked about this in recent shows, the journey of the program delivers experiences and lessons and they reinforce high performance, the value of commitment, a little bit of tenacity, and toughness. The required filtering and prioritization, removing some of the noise, focusing on the key elements, aspects of importance around high coachability, including the art of collaboration, communication, setting up systems of accountability that go twice, two ways, personal growth and development, one of the key anchor points of why they wanted to take on the journey in the first place, resilience, adaptability, the list goes on. And all of these traits beyond the physical readiness, the lessons, and the traits feed their race readiness, it helps them get ready and perform on race day. But incrementally, as the executive athlete is going along their journey, it is doubtless that they start to draw on these traits. And that athlete starts to feel the impact of how they show up as a leader, or in the workplace. I cannot tell you the number of times that I've had feedback from executive athletes that talks about how they have leveraged some of their experiences and lessons from the Ironman journey and applied it to their team, using it as a metaphor, helping their organizations, members of their executive team to see and seek a performance mindset. So in other words, in an ironic twist of fate, this journey, this challenge that they take on the very thing, that at the start of their journey, they were worried about fitting into an already compressed life becomes the very thing that becomes the framework, the tool of organization, planning, effectiveness. But beyond that, is also the thing that boosts their energy, their engagement, their presence in their role of work. And that is intoxicating. It is immeasurable in its impact.
Matt Dixon 27:04
You might remember, that a few months ago, I talked about the show and executive survey that we ran, focusing on daily individual performance. And we asked 50 leaders of major organizations, about their perspective on their stress, their energy, their habits, and other components like that. One of the leading first questions that we asked was, what's your daily stress level like, and the vast majority of respondents said it was high or very high. And that's not surprising. They're in a role at work that is going to deliver a lot of stress. So if they said, not too much stress at all, they're either giving a little bit of a fib, or maybe they're not performing in the workplace. These folks operate in the highest-stress environments possible. And so then we also asked, What about competing demands that you have? And unsurprisingly, unanimously, it was considerable. And so then he said, Okay, you've got time-starved, high-stress environment, massive competing demands. Of course, they said the most precious commodity is time I don't have enough of it. So then we decided to ask, what's the prioritization of fitness and performance habits, and 85% of respondents labeled it as nonnegotiable. So in this very busy life, actually adopting and committing to ongoing fitness and performance habits were nonnegotiables. So we wanted to unpack that a little bit. We asked those respondents the 85% that place the nonnegotiable label on fitness and performance habits, and all of them unanimously reported that despite high competing demands, and feeling high stress, they had consistently high energy, great engagement, and also capacity to respond to things which are out of their control sometimes hit them. Now that can be many things, depending on their professional life and situation, but they have their reservoirs. They're in a forward center of mass. Now that's compelling in itself. But every single one of them also unanimously said that their energy, their capacity, their engagement in the workplace, ties back directly to their fitness and habits prioritization. So they saw a direct link to that. So if any of us that are listening, say, I don't have time, understandably, it would be kind of these folks. But they've come to realize that to unlock effectiveness and capacity, they need to make time, they need to prioritize, and they don't have time not to prioritize these components, because it only helps them show up better.
Matt Dixon 30:05
So, it's pretty interesting stuff globally. But let's circle back to that last point around mindset. Because I think it's unequivocal that the journey of an Ironman directly helps and fosters the key elements that aid performance in the workplace. The Journey develops, so many areas of executive function, grit, durability, and tenacity. And all of these are fundamental aspects for any leader. We want a leader to have great executive function, to have staying power to have tenacity, to be adaptable, changeable. And this is just a big part of it. So I want to dig in specifically to Ironman here. What helps with this so much, that is unique to maybe just doing some of the other sports? Well, triathlon exposes weakness almost every time because the sport is comprised of swim, biking, and running. And so I have never coached an executive athlete who hasn't arrived at the start line of their coaching journey without a clear weakness. And in fact, it also delivers that complex challenge. And so the executive athlete, like any athlete taking on the journey, needs to become adept at shifting focus and prioritizing things around the overall puzzle. And that's exactly what you need to do as a leader. You need to be able to compartmentalize, shift, prioritize, and make changes, and where your focus is millions of times every single day. Okay, that's exaggerating, but you get my point, I'm allowed a little bit of hyperbole sometimes. And I think that's important. You have to address your weakness. And it's very - it's a situation where most of us don't find ourselves many times in life, we tend to stray to the things that we're good at, and we look to grow and improve them. But we don't address our weaknesses. But in Ironman, you can't afford to do that. You have to improve your weaknesses. Also, of course, there are parallels in training for a triathlon, as there are for the demands of successful leadership. And we dug into some of the traits, some of the components, commitment, toughness, prioritization, all of those components that we go through with a high-performance mindset. And then consistently, you need to be self-managing. What's the prioritization? Where should I be shifting attention? And so it mirrors all of the traits that are necessary for an executive. And so through this journey, you have a great vehicle in which your brain can receive the very best training. And it doesn't take much for the brain to leap and make the journey into other components of life. But I've observed this over 20 years, I've seen it in action. I've seen leaders grow and develop not just athletically but as leaders.
Matt Dixon 33:16
But I wondered, could we align any of this with research around the topic? Because, after all, it's not just my observations that are important to this. I've been told countless times by executives who report this impact. My brain gets the training because of the sport, not my body. That's great, that's obvious, we're gonna get fitter, stronger, and have more energy we can get there, but the brain received the training. And that becomes interesting. Well, it turns out that the observations are supported by peer-reviewed research. There are lots of studies on this, but I want to just pick out one study here to unpack a little bit. The title of the study is The Tenacious Brain. And here come some wordy words for you on how the anterior midcingulate contributes to achieving goals. Oh, here he goes again. Let's talk about this. So this is by a team came out of - Dr. Alexandra. Now I have to say this correctly, I'm going to butcher his name, and I apologize in advance Touroutoglou. Also, Joseph Andreano, Bradford Dickerson, and Lisa Feldman Barrett - this team put together a really interesting study around the connection of training - In this case, it was for a related event to Ironman it was a marathon - And the key traits that we know are beneficial or even required for the journey of an executive. It's pretty compelling stuff. Now, of course, this research goes well beyond leaders and executives. It relates to all of us. However, the key trait that these researchers wanted to study was tenacity. That was the word, I like that word, tenacity. So if you've ever read Grit by Angela Duckworth, you're gonna know what I'm talking about here. And the research reported, look, we know tenacity is important. What it means is sticking with things even when they're tough. And it's getting attention. Because when people have tenacity, we understand that they do better at school, at work, and in their health. And in the research, they studied the brains of monkeys and humans using some special scans. They found a part of the brain called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, the AMCC. And it's super important for tenacity, it turns out, now what is the AMCC do? Well, it's a little bit like a hub for the brain. It takes information from different parts of the brain and it figures out how much energy is required for things like paying attention, learning new stuff, moving around, and achieving goals. And the researchers took a lot of scans and looked at this part of the brain. But they also looked at a host of studies around attention, reward, memory, feelings, how we sense things, and how we move our bodies. And when they put all of the studies together, and all of the research together it supported their idea that the AMCC is key for tenacity. So the findings of their thesis were absolutely clear. And that's that along the journey, something like marathon training, or even more complex Ironman training, is likely to engage the AMCC and other brain regions involved in cognitive control, emotional regulation, and sensory processing. In other words, these neural adaptations that occur through the vehicle and journey of sport, contribute directly to improving performance, resilience, and overall wellbeing. Not just performance in the sport, but in life, improve performance in life, resilience, mental resilience, and adaptability, an overall sense of well-being. Said another way, and I want you to hear it out loud, the journey of sport trains the brain, in the key traits and requirements to be successful in anything in life. That's pretty compelling. Because people always think about taking on a challenge in sport and thinking, I'm going to improve my fitness, maybe I'm going to get slightly better body composition, whatever it might be. But not so often do people create the link to say my brain is going to receive the training to help me show up and be better in anything important to me. And that's powerful stuff, really powerful stuff. And I think it goes a long way to explain why so many folks come to Ironman for the race but remain for the lifestyle and the broader rewards.
Matt Dixon 38:13
Now, of course, as you're listening today, let me be clear, it doesn't need to be an Ironman. This isn't about athletic conversion therapy. If you're listening today, and you haven't started your performance journey, I'm not saying for you to be successful, you need to be a CEO, you need to be an executive, you need to sign up for an Ironman, none of that. But we can draw lessons from it. Because we can join the dots and realize that a journey of sport, health, fitness, whatever that means to you, is going to impact positively how you show up in life. In conclusion, executives, manage multiple demands, and they can manage them more effectively when they have a parallel journey in sports. It develops organizational effectiveness, but also it brings them better engagement, and better energy, and their training receives the benefits. And they're training. So in conclusion, executives, they're a great profile to study because they have sometimes the greatest demands to manage. But so many of them leverage the sporting journey to Ironman to help them get organized, show up better with greater energy and health, and also use that journey to train the brain to be more effective leaders. And these principles are ladies and gentlemen, universal to all of us. If you lean in and utilize the journey of the sport of health fitness and habits, it's going to fuel you to become a better human being.
Matt Dixon 39:57
So I want to summarize some key lessons that I think are important for you to take from this and draw and take away with you. Number one, embrace challenges. Seriously, whatever that means for you. We do better as human beings, no matter how busy we are, if we embrace something challenging, yeah, and sometimes the thought of that can be scary and daunting. But they tend to be the things that are the greatest opportunities for personal growth and development, just like high-performing executives are drawn to challenges around endurance sports, facing them, and overcoming obstacles can enhance your resilience, and your achievement in all areas of life. It's one of the great things to do to put a stake in something that's maybe great as a reward if you're successful, but also, and I'll say it so you can remember, scary as shit, that you're not sure if you can do it. But taking the steps towards it, the journey is going to be the reward. number to go on a journey where you're forced to develop tenacity, use the researcher’s word, recognize the importance of it, persistence in the face of challenges, we can all get better at that. And if you do get more tenacious, you're going to be better at achieving long-term success, you're going to cultivate a mindset of perseverance, and resilience, knowing that setbacks are just growth opportunities. You should integrate physical training, and also the performance habits that we talked about eating hydration sleep, it's very simple. We have 10 steps to help people along their journey at Purple Patch, we call it the Purple Patch method. It is going to help you just like marathon training, the research has found helps the brain structure and function, integrating physical activities with cognitive exercises you're going to enhance your overall well-being and performance. Ensure that you apply these lessons beyond sport. Don't think about it as something mutually exclusive. The lessons apply to anything in your life, they're going to help you become better organized, be able to prioritize and focus more, and become more effective at decision-making. And that just helps you be better at work at relationships at personal goals. It's straightforward stuff. And of course, focus on long-term growth. Don't just get dragged into the quick-fix culture that our media blitzes us with, shift the focus from short-term to long-term growth and development. I promise you, that when you take the long lens, you're going to have happiness, and established control, and you're going to get better results. These are some of the components that we talk about. I couldn't give a hoot whether it's a world-class athlete and executive taken on the Ironman journey, or someone that decides to move from sedentary to just simply going for a walk after dinner every night. We can all, from wherever we're at right now, refine, improve, and grow. And that's what unifies what it means for me to be on the journey of excellence. What does it mean to us to be on the journey of Purple Patch? I hope that helps with a perspective. Matt Dixon. Take care.
Matt Dixon 43:28
Guys, thanks so much for joining. And thank you for listening, I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. Head to the Purple Patch channel on YouTube, and you will find it there. And you could subscribe, of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe also share it with your friends. And it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now, any questions that you have, let me know feel free to add a comment and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. As we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@PurplePatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show on the Purple Patch page and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset as we like to call it. And so feel free to share with your friends, but as I said, let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're trying hard to make it a special experience and we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that, I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do. Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
ironman, journey, executive, challenge, competing demands, life, performance, purple, training, athlete, patch, tenacity, components, sport, brain, prioritization, broader, traits, mindset, work