out.of.desk

As I turned 36 this week, I set a random, somewhat ambitious goal for myself - to run 36mi in a week. That’s the most I'd have run in a week in my nine years of running, and by far the most serious running I'd have done since having kids 3 years ago. I aimed at running 6mi everyday for 6 consecutive days. I ended up hitting 39mi.

For those six days, it was almost like a ritual - After getting the kids to bed, I'd head out to a nearby park less than a mile away, run 30 loops of 0.15 mi around the park, and then back home. In the life after kids where there's not much predictability in how I spend my time, this was a welcome change.

The mundaneness and simplicity of repetitive loops make it easier to forget about the run and find the space and time to think, untie mental knots, solve problems, and reflect. It's a reminder that clarity often emerges from the most ordinary of actions. It's why you get the deepest insights, sharpest ideas in the shower.

I’ve always loved running for its solo nature. But as I’ve gone from single to married to a parent, my perspective has shifted. I’ve come to see a powerful social dimension that isn't obvious: the support system required to enjoy it. That has been a general pattern I see as I age - a nuanced, more granular view of things. Maturity may be the slow process of realizing nothing is truly a solo act, or that things are not quite like what they seem at a glance.

My goal this week required changing our schedule. It meant finishing kids' dinner early. It meant getting my wife's buy-in. I could have just insisted and hit the road, but that would be like running with a heavy bag of sand tied to my legs. It adds emotional drag. Ensuring the people who depend on you are unblocked and supported doesn't just make it easier to achieve your goals; it makes the journey sustainable. Alignment transforms effort from a burden into a flow.

This train of thought led to a visual metaphor, which I sketched out to clarify the idea.

This insight transfers directly to the workplace. In knowledge work, we're sold a narrative of individual meritocracy, a view that is especially deep-rooted in engineering. But that perspective is myopic. While individual skill is critical, long-term success is built on a foundation of support from people and alignment with bigger forces.

The "People" Force: Gaining Buy-in and Support

This is the essence of stakeholder management. Getting your team, cross-functional partners, and leadership to care about your goals is the key to navigating any complex organization. You can try to force your way through disagreement, but that friction builds over time. Sooner or later, you either realize it's a team sport, or you burn out and repeat the cycle elsewhere. It is a tug of war between ego and impact.

Alignment with the Bigger Forces

But people aren't the only forces acting on you. There are also invisible, impersonal ones: culture, nature, anatomy, and luck. You don't fight these forces; you align with them.

One night, I ran too soon after dinner and got a side stitch(the cramp-like pain you feel when you run with a full tummy). Its cause is debated, but the solution is simple: slow down. Don’t fight anatomy. Use that energy on something you can actually control.

This reminded me of a former mentor's advice: “Show up, keep your heads down, do your best work, and don't worry about the rest.” This isn’t about being passive, or submissive. It’s about the strategic allocation of your energy — a timeless concept found in ancient works like the Bhagavad Gita and Stoic philosophy, and echoed in modern books like Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People through his model of the Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern.

Fighting an entrenched organizational culture as a lone warrior is largely a waste of energy. So is trying to rewrite a critical legacy codebase without acknowledging the perceived risk. The resistance of "it's too risky to rewrite" can't be underestimated. A trail runner knows to slow down on uphills and gain momentum on the downhills. They aren't giving up to gravity; they are strategically letting a bigger force do some of the work for them.

This is the essence of leverage: achieving a state of flow where hard things become easier. It's why it becomes easier to get things done in an organization when you've been around a while - you know the people, you have the context, and you are aligned with the bigger forces.

Conclusion

Ultimately, this week reminded me that sustainable performance — in running or in work — is less about the brute-force act of moving forward and more about the system you operate within. It's about seeing the invisible forces at play. The real skill isn't just running; it's navigating the environment you run in. It’s about securing support from the people around you and aligning with the bigger forces you can't control. When you get that right, you're no longer just running; you're being carried forward.