Tasks, Conditions, & Standards
Or- Doing shit so hard that there's no room left for anything else.
Friday I was knocking out the April Bulletproof Friday workout. It required me to increase the pace of each mile by 30 seconds progressively.
This gets hard quickly.
As I was swinging my arms and moving my legs as fast as I could, I was reminded of a recent post I wrote for my other substack, Think.Read.Write.Repeat.
In it, I talked about multi-tasking. Some people love it, others hate it. Some claim that we can’t actually do it. Instead, we task-switch, moving back and forth between tasks.
I made the point that we can multi-task as long as neither task takes up our full bandwidth.
Once a week I ruck with my buddy, Worth. We put in five solid miles and catch up on what each other has going on.
I usually do my long ruck on the weekend. I use the time to think about ideas for posts or work on a problem I’m dealing with.
I can do both of these things because neither requires my full attention.
But, on Friday as I started increasing the pace I couldn’t contemplate the world’s problems. By the last mile as I tried to stay under a 13-minute pace without running My entire focus had to be on moving. When my attention slipped so did the pace. My Garmin showed it and I had to redouble my efforts, banish any thought other than moving as fast as I could, swing my arms, and move my feet.
I wouldn’t want every ruck to be like that. I enjoy using my time rucking to catch up with friends or just to think.
But, sometimes we need a Task, Condition, & Standard.
What are we setting out to accomplish?
What are the conditions under which we will accomplish it?
What is the standard we must meet to be successful?
If the task is challenging, and the conditions and standards are designed to push us to our limit, there won’t be room for multitasking.
Sometimes you need to do shit so hard that there is no room left for anything else.
R.T.F.U. is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
I‘ve started adding my Sunday morning ruck rant videos to a YouTube channel. You can check them out here.
Just giving you the heads up we may have some cool Ruck The Fuck Up t-shirts and sweatshirts coming soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Good Deals
My pals at SOFLETE provide world-class training, supplements, and gear. I love their training app and am currently following the Distance Ruck training program. You can get 20% off with the code: Walkingpoint20
First Spear makes a lot of the equipment that special operations forces around the world trust their life to. They also make some of the best American-made Merino wool socks and base layers around. RTFU10 will get you 10% off of your entire order. It can only be used once per customer, so make it count.
Salty Britches coupon code: RTFU20 will get you twenty percent off an already ridiculously underpriced insurance policy against chafing and blisters.
I now have a new favorite all-purpose belt from Marine Raider-owned company, BoldBannds. Bold Bannds are not only stretch/roll proof, anti-microbial, waterproof, crackproof, bombproof, and maintenance free. The owner, Chris Bannister, will work with you to create your personalized belt. Use the coupon code RTFU to get 10% off.
If you make awesome gear and are interested in offering readers a deal, please hit me up at john@walkingpoint.org
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week.
Loved this. I can say with certainty that on my interval run today, there was absolutely zero room for any thoughts other than "keep running as fast as you can."
Focus...it is a word that gets pushed to the side when multi-tasking.