The Formula

A universal* maxim for sustainable growth.

Consistency. Stress. Rest. When combined with purpose, these three words coalesce into The Formula, the closest thing I’ve found to a universal maxim for success in all life’s beautiful, difficult challenges.

*First, we should usually steer clear of anything claiming to be “universal,” right? Like, toss a match and run away. Except when it comes to this beauty:

Components of The Formula are often cleaved off into self-help soundbites.

• Consistency is king!

• Five sure-fire ways to beat stress!

• Rest is part of training!

But, it’s in the interconnectedness that we find magic. Push, recuperate, repeat. None of them works to full potential without the others.

The Formula is simple, yet powerful. Let’s break it down in the context of running, with some practical examples.

Stress

Another word we could use here is change. When looking to make a change or see growth, we have to “stress the system” (but not the hand-wringing, forehead vein-bulging variety). The stress we’re talking about here is more modulated and applied with intention, direction, and self-compassion.

Say you’ve challenged yourself to run a marathon. You would apply different training stressors, progressively over time, gradually building fitness. You might decide your nutrition could improve, then stress that system with dietary adjustments. You might even start meditating for a stronger mind-body system.

Understanding that stress equals growth is empowering. As long as you introduce new stimuli mindfully, with full attention, there are no wrong answers. You’re an experiment of one.

Rest

We need stress to grow, but grinding all the time means eventually there isn’t anything left to grind. In running, this means fatigue, injury, or even overtraining syndrome. Most of us are prone to pushing too hard at times, but why? Likely, if we look deep, it’s because we’re afraid to fail.

What if, instead of seeing downtime as a chance for failure to creep in, we choose to see that rest allows the work to take root?

When you ease up, you make space for the body and mind to recuperate. You bank energy for the next bout of stress. It’s a chance to tend to the physical and mental scaffolding that supports our efforts: Sleep, nutrition, anything that recharges.

Seasoned runners know, it’s not only during the efforts that our bodies get stronger, but also during the recovery. Rest is critical for physiological repair and also clears room in the mind for a self-renewing love of running.

After all, it’s the connection to something deeper than mere hard work that keeps us coming back day after day.

Consistency

Whether you’re working or resting, on or off the accelerator, showing up for yourself every day is the foundation of change. It starts with a commitment, clear in the mind and prioritized against anything that threatens to take it away.

For endurance athletes, the 80/20 approach is a proven training methodology; eighty percent easy efforts, twenty percent with some zing. I’d take it a step further and say, before most people add any intensity longer than a few seconds, they should have a solid bedrock of consistent, easy running over several months.

Ease lends itself to faster recovery and greater enjoyment (especially early in a running journey), both of which help ensure you keep clocking in.

Cliff’s, err… Mike’s Notes

The Formula is a “quick start guide” for growth. This dead-simple reference point helps you lock some simple, but essential concepts into memory while you adapt them to your own life and expand your portfolio of progression tools.

The takeaways…

1. Work (apply stressors gently and progressively to build strength and resilience)

2. But not all the time (recover to absorb training, reflect, and avoid burnout)

3. Show up every day (commit to change, create the conditions, protect your promises)

Run lightly,
-mike

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