As important and difficult as it was to say no to things, there was a series of Yes decisions that carried its own immense value in my quest to do what I love for a living.

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Y E S!

While a successful escape involves saying No to the right things, saying yes, particularly when yes involves embracing uncertainty, is important as well. Oh, those yes’s and no’s have so much value if you can only apply them to the right things!

Here's Coach Jeff's reading list for May 2013:

Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance by Dr. Kelly Starrett

Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen by Edward Lee

When I first launched myself fully into the business I was passionate about, I had multiple chances to join someone else’s project – their company.  In each case I could have helped grow the business. I could have stepped into a venture that had already endured start-up pains and was ready for the next stage of development.

I liked these organizations and would have loved working with the people. I felt I could make a difference, but something was missing. I had this gut feeling that where my passion stemmed from was not only in helping people improve their lives, but also in building something from the ground up.  That aspect really fired me up. That’s what got me so excited that I’d work through the night. It wasn’t just working in a certain area … it was building a business and creating something new in that area. That was a strong fuel for my passion.

With spring cycling season upon us, we've asked expert Chris White, Head Mechanic at The Bike in Lausanne, Switzerland, to share his Top 5 Tips for inspecting and preparing your bike. Chris was kind enough to share some great info, so many thanks to him! Please enjoy the read and your time on the bike.

Today we're happy to combine our Hillseeker® Interview and Do What You Love Series by bringing you a chat with a great friend and one of the most helpful and selfless guys we know, Chris White. His story blends a love of cycling with a job doing what he loves (working with bikes!). This interview is absolutely worth a read, so please grab a hot cup of coffee or tea and enjoy the insights.

Chris and his wife Heather riding their tandem up the infamous cobbled Tremola on the Gotthard Pass 

Hi Chris and thanks for offering to share your time with us! So the story goes that you have a PhD, that you've worked for 5+ years as a Post-Doc Researcher & Lecturer and that your primary job now is as the Head Mechanic at a bike shop in scenic Lausanne, Switzerland. Did we get that right? If so, that sounds like a fascinating combination!

Sometimes you’ve got to relax to go hard!

Recently while coaching Double Unders (rope skipping movement where the rope passes twice under your feet on one jump), I found myself giving the same advice to several athletes: RELAX!

And once they relaxed, something magic happened. They began to perform! They got the movement.

This ties in to a concept I teach often in running technique clinics which I describe as Minimum Effective Dosage, or M.E.D. The easiest way to describe this is to ask you to stand up. So, please stand up. Now, let’s pretend that your task is to stand in place for 15 seconds. Go ahead and try it: 15, 14, 13 … and 1.

 
Ok, now let’s do it again, but this time I want you to squeeze all your muscles tightly. Feet, legs, glutes, core, shoulders, arms, hands and face.  And here we go: 15, 14, 13 … and 1.

In many situations, it takes more courage to say no than yes, especially when a “yes” is the low-risk answer. But the more courage required to give an answer you believe in, the more relieving it is to get that answer out in the open. It feels good, really good.

 
 
There are some important “No” answers I had the courage to give along the way in my escape. Many of these were pivotal moments, but I didn’t always know it at the time. Today I share with you the 2nd of the key “No” moments, moments that we can draw lessons from and that you can apply to your own escape, corporate thriving efforts or pursuits in general. In case you missed it, here's Part 1.

2. Would you like to come back as a consultant? 

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a people pleaser. I’m very good at saying yes and I suppose I'm a smile-seeker just as much as a Hillseeker®! If there’s any chance of disappointing someone with a no, I often say yes even if that's not the optimal choice and then I proceed to over-extend myself. As Duke Robinson covers very well in his excellent book on this topic, my tendency is to be too nice for my own good.

In many situations, it takes more courage to say no than yes, especially when a “yes” is the low-risk answer. But the more courage required to give an answer you believe in, the more relieving it is to get that answer out in the open. It feels good, really good.

Life shines when you persevere through adversity, not when you give up.

I recently returned from another amazing coaching trip in California at SEALFIT. I love these trips, and this time around I had the opportunity to teach some additional classes, including meditation and breath work (pranayama) as well as the normal running technique & functional training sessions. It's a dream experience for a coach and a real gift to be able to spend such quality time with a world-class team of coaches and warrior athletes.

When I’m out there in this unique setting, I have the opportunity for an in-depth view into the hearts and minds of athletes, special forces prospects, executives and others who dare to enter the weeklong SEALFIT Academy and the crucible 50-hour Kokoro challenge. It’s awesome, to say the least!

Here's Coach Jeff's reading list for March 2013:

• The Red Circle: My Life in the Navy SEAL Sniper Corps and How I Trained America's Deadliest Marksmen One of the best books on the discipline of intensive and meticulous preparation and advanced SEAL training that I've read. Quite impressionable on the themes of professionalism and excellence.

• Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior Page-turning look into the preparation and work of special operators by SEAL Officer Rorke Denver

• Earn the Right to Win: How Success in Any Field Starts with Superior Preparation Excellent book from Tom Coughlin, head coach of the New York Giants and one of the most successful coaches in NFL history.

• The 4-Hour Chef Another excellent Ferris book, going well beyond cooking and including great insight into immersion learning.