The Final Lap

Have you watched Ford vs. Ferrari?

SPOILER ALERT AHEAD.

In this movie, Cristian Bale’s character Ken Miles constantly talks about the PERFECT LAP.

He sits down with his son before the Le Mans in 1966 and says, the perfect lap is out there son, you just have to find it.

The next day he races in the 24-hour Le Mans and breaks the record for the fastest lap! Oh and then he breaks his own record 3 more times in that same race. One could argue he achieved a “perfect lap” and then did even better… 3 more times!

Yes, he was racing other people but at one point he was well ahead and could have taken his foot off the gas. Instead, he focused even more.

His pursuit was his own passion, his own best effort, not just to beat everyone else. He kept pursuing his own full potential.

Unfortunately, he was well on his way to winning the race but was awarded 2nd place after the Ford owner requested all of the Ford vehicles finish together. Watch the movie for more details, it’s heartbreaking.

To make matters even worse, Ken Mile would never race in a Le Mans again. Later that same year he ended up dying tragically in a car explosion.

But if you watch the movie the beautiful thing is after losing and letting go of his frustration, Ken gets back to work with Carroll Shelby. They start working on making the car faster, then Ken starts testing out new cars consistently pushing his own limits, and finds the same joy in pursuing his next perfect lap.

It’s pretty much how we should all live our lives if you think about it, the pursuit of our best every day, because unfortunately, we don’t know what day (lap) will be our last.

You are now on the final lap (4th quarter) of 2024. How are you going to make it your best one yet?

Well maybe try approaching your goals as process-driven rather than outcome-driven, like Ken did.

Last week I posted a story highlighting Ryan Holiday’s unique approach to accomplishing things. Ryan Holiday if you don’t know is the author of The Daily Stoic and he is famous for all his work around the ancient Greek philosophy of stoicism.

Ryan states that he doesn’t have “goals” anymore but rather a focus on refining the process.

He loves to run, so he does that activity and others to improve and continue to run his best. He may strive to run a marathon, but he would say he does not strive to place in a certain position, only work at setting a better personal time.

An even better example he uses is referencing how writers try to set goals like becoming a New York Times Best Seller and by doing so they give away the power of accomplishment. Now someone else dictates whether they succeed or fail and dictates their emotions around the outcome.

Ever accomplish something and find yourself downplaying your success?

Or even immediately wanting more? Or comparing yourself to how someone else achieved the same result?

EXACTLY.

Ryan states “The fixation on external results that are not in your control carries a hidden cost.” It consumes a significant amount of time and energy that actually would be better spent doing things that generate those results.”

Another one of his examples is this “A swimmer who glances over at the competition or up at the finish line creates drag and slows down.”

We all do this.

So by removing some of this prestige on goals, and focusing more on the process, we will find ourselves viewing success as doing the thing rather than judging how well we do the thing.

Doing anything will lead to consistent progress by virtue of sustainable action and thus result in an outcome. It could even be the outcome we want or even better because we will probably stay on track better without all the negative noise in our brains and time spent comparing ourselves to others.

So am I saying no to goals?

Absolutely not, I’m saying no to goals that are controlled by others or reference what others are doing. Let’s set expectations like working out more consistently (3-4x a week) and working out better (increasing weights consistently and effort) in an effort to achieve OUR best results.

Want to squat 200lbs? Then squat every week, challenge yourself, and increase your weight over time. Don’t say it has to be done in a year, or talk yourself out of it just keep squatting.

Want to lose 20lbs? Figure out what you need to change in your diet, stick to it, exercise each week, and focus on getting better at that. No timeline just commitment.

Just focus on showing up and getting better. Give yourself consistent kudos for that and remove expectations. It WILL happen if you do what is NECESSARY to get there.

(Curious about what is necessary to squat 200lbs or lose 20lbs?)
Contact me let’s chat about it!

So what are 3 activities you know you need to do that you can focus on this quarter?

Worry less about the outcome and focus more on the quality and consistency.

Write these down and make them your goals for Q4.

Enjoy your final lap folks!