Stay Strong With Will Foden

Weekly debrief.

I sat there on Saturday night watching the Nadal documentary with Rach, and Nadal said something that massively resonated with me about how I’ve operated this week.

“In competition, there is no such thing as pressure to perform. The only pressure that you have is the pressure to deliver on the actions needed to get you to that position.”

This week for me has been nothing audacious.

I’ve not done anything out of the ordinary in relation to some highlight reel that social media asks me to show you.

What I’ve done is the bare, boring basics about what actually takes to hold your standards as high as they can be.

This week was a massive illustration of ticking that box, making sure that I hit that standard and stacked those wins on top of each other.

The reality, the boring, is the cliché art of high performance. It’s all about compound interest.

It’s not about how hard you can work. It’s not about how big you can attack. It’s not about how perfect you are in whatever feat of performance.

It’s the daily rehab sessions on the sofa as I’m watching television. It’s eating the same food for five days a week, in some regard, aiming to get some consistency back. It’s keeping my boundaries inside of my company.

All of this matters but more so not many will see it.

Something to write down this week

What are the clear goals I need to hit this week to compound your efforts?

Weekly field notes

Not going to lie, this week being sick didn’t start the week as I had planned. For years I never gave myself a break, but the only time you’ll realise why your capacity matters so much is when you get sick and you still need to deliver.

Even through the chaos I still had a mega week.

- Finally get a physio session that found the cause for this chronic hip issue.

- Attended a seminar with John Will, who’s a coral belt but more so from one coach to another watching this man deliver was awesome.

- Took the family for food, spent loads of time with the boy and was able to get the best 90 mins of planning I’ve done even though it was 4:30am (the boy went back to bed)

- Also got to be part of the Foster Bday BBQ and got to train at boys which was awesome.

Finally back to some sort of routine this week. HQ being built and ready to get this rehab on the go to get back running.

Weekly debrief.

Chickenpox will give the reality check you probably needed. If you’re a parent, you’ll understand this. This is the harsh reality of wanting to achieve across the board but being blindsided and having to be where your feet are.

I think on this platform a lot of people talk to you about thriving, about winning, about beating everything, about dominating, about goal acquisition.

What I will tell you now is that this week has been about survival, about holding on for dear life. I’ve always been very transparent about the reality of high performance: it isn’t always about winning, dominating, or the elite outcome. It’s about getting the minimal effective dose across the board.

For me this week, it’s been about ticking boxes. I haven’t dominated, but I’ve won the day by doing what I can and looking after my wife as well as my son. I’ve done what I could through my training sessions. I’ve done my check-ins, and I’ve built the parts of the business that needed to happen, but I was also present. I was at all battle stations, making sure that everyone in the household was moving forward.

Last night, we were reminiscing about times in Singapore, and those are long-in the distant past, we were no longer in the same position as we used to be, with no responsibilities and nothing else mattering apart from when we were headed to Bali or Thailand.

That’s not me, a glass-half-empty person. That’s just me acknowledging that I am in a different season of my life now. It’s about getting this youngster back in the game, doing what he does best in relation to adventures and more, and keeping the bus moving forward even though you’re heavily compromised.

Raging we couldn’t go on holiday but super lucky we can just explore and do what we can. Couple of days and we can lock back in.

It’s not about how good you are. It’s about how long you can outlast them.

Weekly Debrief

Funny how with a bit of sun, some hard training, some amazing connection, BBQ, and some space, all your problems seem to be turned on their head.

This week has definitely been a tale of two halves for me personally. I have been pushing through the chaos of having two full media days, pulling things down in my business, balancing being a parent, being present, and getting my training in and by the end of the week feeling like I’ve been smashed.

But this weekend massively recalibrated me.

For something so simple, just having a great time with some close friends

Doing some hard training and getting after it with my mates in the gym on something I’ve never done before: hitting a half marathon between 3 of us on a ski erg because “let’s eee what’s really stretches you”

Having some banging time with my family and those close to me, doing simple s**t like eating good food, having a laugh and going about the farm

Also with the realisation that however hard business has been for me this week, it’s not personal this is just the tax that you have to pay for working for yourself.

It is going through the friction, pushing yourself past the uncomfortable, and realising that actually the path less trodden is the one that you’re chasing. Hence why it’s difficult.

The issues that I have inside my company right now aren’t huge. They’re just different and getting used to that takes time. I think a lot of business leaders struggle when it comes down to this thinking they are broken rather that you’re just having to operate at a different level and a different pace which takes time to acclimatise to.

The only lesson from me this week is to remember what keeps you ticking over, what keeps you moving forward, and how you actually find stability in the chaos.

The reality is that if you’re trying to spin multiple plates, you’re never going to be ready. You’re never going to be in a perfect position and you’re never ever going to have the perfect plan for the perfect time.

So accept that you want the chaos, you want the challenge but more so know what keeps you recovered and dialled in.

Also a big Happy Bday Mr Foster

Weekly Debrief

If anything’s taught me this week is that how ever much you want and need structure the difference between those winning and losing is being able to adapt and thrive in the chaos.

Last weekend I was sat here writing this after Rach completed her 70.3 Ironman

What you don’t see as someone who wants to push his limits is the reality of spinning so many plates

Keeping the business moving forward

Get some form of training in

Keeping George alive whilst Rach gets prept

Not to mention travelling, getting back home, development calls and everything inbetween.

I was driving home from my mums and my mind start to spiral as per

“I need to”

“If I don’t this will”

“I have to work when I get back to get ahead”

And the old me would have listened, buried myself in work and felt guilty

But this is something I’ve been working on for years

Finding objective measures of what actually pushes the needle?

More focus and specific action outpaces anyone just “grinding”

This week I’ve played more the George then ever

Supported my wife

Had morning coffees with the crew

Spent time with my family

Travelled the country

Rebuilt two pieces of my business

Trained 6 times as per

Your mind will always want more, but this game is about wining the moments that actually matter

Thoughts from 30,000 feet, boy edition.

Its so easy to get caught up in the rat race of development

Associating everything I do as a win or lose equation.

Wanting to grow and evolve but in the same breath be as present as you can and not miss the moments that matter which for me is time with my son and my family.

As Rach set up for the race I had a three minute gap between race day prep, boy duty and figuring out how to get Rach to the race

My son has no idea whats going on here, but hes absorbing everything.

He’s watched him mum go from nothing to hitting a 70.3 with the crowd going wil

He watches and knows when I’m there and when I need to work

He see someone training and he says “getting fit”

He’s two years old

But he may not understand whats happening but he does realise that this is the standard and how we lead inside of our house.

Kids absorb. They don’t just learn, they don’t just be. They watch what you do and they see what you see as right and wrong.

Being able to share that moment with my son, showing his mummy pushing her limits, pushing her boundaries, and doing something she was going to do, is so much more important than anything you can buy, regardless

If you are ambitious and you want to push yourself, I know exactly what it’s like to be here and your mind is absolutely somewhere else. This weekend really showed me one thing:

You can’t teach your standards, you show them.

This is why the little things matter, more so being present and where your feet are is a currency that keeps this moving without losing what counts in the process.