First published 5 September 2022 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
For the first time ever, we missed a week. That's why this is 197 and not 198. Nigel had a lot going on at home and he put his hand straight up. "It's all me. Nothing to do with Neil." What bugged him most was that he probably knew he couldn't do it, and still didn't say anything.
So he got onto quitting. Sometimes it's fine to stop, as long as you know why you're stopping. He'd been asked to write another book with someone and turned it down, because he didn't have the time and didn't want to do it. My view is that your own health comes first, then family, then everything else. A few of you messaged asking if Spotify or Google Podcasts had broken. They hadn't. Something more important got in the way, which is how it should be.
Then we looked at the rest of the year. Nigel had his calendar open while we talked. Most people stop on 22 December and won't be back until the 3rd or 4th of January, some not until the 9th. So when does your year actually end? If your activity stops around the 19th, your last 90 days start about now. And if Christmas doesn't give you a hard deadline, set your own a week early.
I finished with parkrun. I've run ultramarathons (107 miles over several days was the longest) and I've been slowly getting back into it with 5Ks. At the first one I walked some of it. Last weekend I ran the whole thing and sprinted for the line, racing someone I'm convinced was older than my mum. Nigel talked about the championship 5,000 metres where every runner, the one who came last included, got a personal best. And about the petrol light. When it says two miles left, you normally get four or five. Don't try that at home.
What stuck
- It's fine to quit something if you know why you're quitting and you're not just giving up.
- Work out when your year really ends. For a lot of people it's around 22 December, not the 31st.
- Count back 90 days from that date and have a plan for them.
- If Christmas doesn't give you a hard deadline, set your own a week earlier.
You don't manage time. You manage what you do with your time.
Neil Martin
Sometimes it's okay to quit providing you know why you're quitting and you're not just giving up.
Nigel Risner
