Hey Reader,

Got an interesting listeners’ question from my wife, Zoe, on this week’s pod.

She used to swim a lot.

She was a high school swimmer, and she played water polo.

But she’s been away from it for a while.

Her question was basically this: how do you get back into something when you’ve been stuck in a rut of not doing it?

It feels overwhelming for her to even think about getting back in the pool.

The work and the gap between where she was and where she is now just feels too big.

I imagine a lot of high performers struggle with this too.

🧠 Passions do get lost

I know that feeling of doing something just for the intrinsic part of you.

Because it excites you one way or the other, not necessarily because you earn a living from it.

I think a lot of us used to have these things that lit us up.

Sports, hobbies, creative stuff, whatever it was.

And then life got full and busy, and we had to be productive and responsible for other things.

So we dropped them.

And now, when we think about picking them back up, there’s this struggle.

Part of it is not enough time, drive, or energy.

But I think the bigger part is that we’ve built our whole identity around the things that make the money.

So getting back into something just for the love of it can feel hard.

Like it has to earn its place by making us fitter, or better at our jobs.

You can find that spark back.

❤️ You need a why that pulls you

Having a why sounds cliché, but it’s one of the greatest forces of discipline for achieving something.

When you think about getting back to that thing, think about something tied to it that you want to work towards.

Think about what feels rewarding about it.

Think about people, places, or activities that make it enjoyable.

A why behind it.

If it’s just the need to do it that drives you, that’s probably the worst kind of motivation.

Give it a purpose.

Something else I find interesting is what I call a pattern interruption.

If you did that thing a particular way before, think about new ways you can do it now.

For example, in running, if you used to run on roads, you don’t come back to the road.

You come back to the trail.

You mix up climbing hills and bombing deckers (with airplane arms!) And you stop for snacks along the way :)

Make it fun enough to think about doing it.

Then do it.

So what’s that passion you’re trying to fall in love with all over again?

Is there something in it that feels rewarding?

Any friends to do it with that can make it even more exciting now?

Go for it.

You’ve got this.

PS. We talked about reconnecting with things you used to love doing in this week’s pod.

We also talked about getting around the weird emptiness that hits right after achieving something big.

And loads more topics.

Worth a listen.​

Ep 8. Post-marathon blues, c... May 12 · Two Average Runners 61:43   ​

With appreciation,

Huw

Huw Edwards Founder & CEO, h3.xyz​

Our next episode drops on Tuesday

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