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127 Hours & The Notion of Valuing Time

Guest post by: Enrico Varella

Article Overview: Endurance sports can teach us much about time. Not just about timing, but the value of time, right up to the second. Every step is equivalent to a unit of time. When qualifying (BQ) for the Boston Marathon, every second counts. I knew my chances for Boston 2011 was dashed at the three-quarter mark (of the Berlin Marathon 2010) when my pace dropped significantly.

127 Hours & The Notion of Valuing Time

Endurance sports can teach us much about time. Not just about timing, but the value of time, right up to the second. Every step is equivalent to a unit of time. When qualifying (BQ) for the Boston Marathon, every second counts. I knew my chances for Boston 2011 was dashed at the three-quarter mark (of the Berlin Marathon 2010) when my pace dropped significantly. With a 10-minute leeway this year (I advanced to a new age group), I am closer to the qualifying mark, so I am optimistic that next year I would have a winning shot at it.

In a 17-hour Ironman triathlon, it may appear that we have lots of time, yet who would want to spend so much time out there, braving the elements? Every additional minute spent completing the race exerts strain on an already fatigued body. In a fast 5K race, the challenge of holding a faster pace takes its toll on the body quickly because we tap on another energy system.

In the new James Franco (Spiderman’s arch-villain, the Green Goblin) movie, 127 Hours a climber has that many hours to save himself before he gets rescued or dies. Inspired by real events, the climber dismembers his trapped arm with a blunt jackknife. Although audiences may watch this film for the wrong reason, the story is told in flashbacks as the climber’s life flashes before him. This is in stark contrast to the television series ‘Flash Forward’ where victims blacked out for2 minutes 17 seconds and witnessed their personal future.

Business Leadership Lessons: How do you respect people’s time? Do your clients respect your time? When you lead in meetings, does your team appreciate the time spent? Do you charge by the minute, hour, day or month? The degree of respect for one’s time can be determined when one considers how we rarely wish to waste our time with legal professionals. Perhaps, it is time to think like a lawyer.

Update: I qualified for the Boston Marathon by a margin of one minute at the Hong Kong Marathon 2011. In spite of this good news, I intend to better my time at the Gold Coast Marathon four months after that. The qualification for BQ is becoming more stringent and challenging, so a wider margin of qualifying matters if I am to secure a racing spot next year at Boston.

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Article Tags: boston qualification, flashbacks, margin, time



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Books that should be written - [quote:1m0dcpd7]"The Idiots Guide To Sticking With One Thing At A Time and Not Doing Something New All The Time" [/quote:1m0dcpd7] I myself am a 'constructive' procrastinator... I don't know if I'm alone in this. I have about six or seven projects I'm working on at any given time. I get one project almost done... then my interest is piqued by another project and I work on that... I get burnt out and move to another...I know I do this so I have it arranged such that once I get bored or burnt out with one project, I can step right back into project 1 - or 2 or 3, and get that a little bit more done before moving on to something else. As long as you're organized and know where all your reference material/idea sheets are when you're ready to get back to work on each project, it should be fine. I also find that by stepping away from a project - I still work on it in the recesses of my mind so that when I go back to it - it's with some good ideas that I wouldn't have had if I'd continued on with it originally. Maybe I should write a book on how to Procrastinate Constructively... I've actually thought about doing that...because most people procrastinate, don't they...and very few are ever able to stop.
Re: Half of 2011 is gone - It's flying by so quickly! Still have plenty to do that I wanted to have done by now. Time to really step it up!


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