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The Effects of Parkour on the Entrepreneurial Mind

Vitaly the Winne

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I've been a traceur(parkour practitioner) since 2010 now, took the last year off to handle things in life, and allowed other things to get in the way.

So now I'm almost two weeks back into practicing, thankfully since I kept up the intensity in the form of running and weight training over the last year I can still do the moves, which is great.

After each training session I've noticed something interesting. The mindset of overcoming obstacles and looking at different ways to get from point A to point B has led me to developing a similar approach to problem solving and makes it so much easier to maintain a positive attirude and focus on the goal throughout the day.

My question for you guys is this, for those who have practiced intense and physically and mentally demanding disciplines(such as martial arts or a maniacal dedication to training for a sport), what are some of the biggest benefits you guys experience as a result that transfer over into helping you become a better and more effective entrepreneur?
 
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Devilery

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Passionate (amateur) triathlete here. In the past I did zero sports, like literary none - my fitness was awful, same as everything else (finances, relationships etc.). Sports was one of the first things I introduced into my "self-development journey". Some running, some cycling, some gym. "Yeah, feel's good. I can get something done (increased confidence, trust in myself etc.)."
Then it kinda took off to a more serious path.

I got into wantrepreneurship, increased my goals and the thought was along the lines of: "Hey, if I would commit to this crazy IronMan thing, I would probably succeed with my entrepreneurial goals too."
So I started working out like crazy, gained weight and muscle (old teenage struggle crushed), improved my cardio fitness where I wen't from walking 5k to running half marathons in around 6 months.

But. While that's all great, there's way more important point - the development of mindset. I was broke, depressed, lazy, unhealthy etc. Trough sports I got myself together - confidence, discipline, mental strength, ambitions, health and much much more sky-rocketed!
And for me to attain that, there's nothing better than gruelling endurance trainings. Where your legs are falling off, you're mind is just: "why the hell??? too freakin' hard, aaaahhh!!!" But. You keep going.

Entrepreneurship for me is the same. It's a freaking IronMan. It's hard, very few can do that there's day when you don't wan't to get out of bed. There's moments when you'd rather be somewhere else. There's days where it hurts and your performance is shit and you just wan't to quit. But. You don't! As long as you stick to it - you're progressing.

I could go on and on, but the main points is (as made here on forum before): Entrepreneurship is a marathon. It's long, gruelling and sucky, but the finish line makes everything worth it.

That's why I do triathlon - learning to enjoy and endure long, gruelling efforts no matter what.

And yes, my life has changed drastically over past year. There are many other contributions to that, but sports is definetely one of the key things.
 

Vitaly the Winne

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Passionate (amateur) triathlete here. In the past I did zero sports, like literary none - my fitness was awful, same as everything else (finances, relationships etc.). Sports was one of the first things I introduced into my "self-development journey". Some running, some cycling, some gym. "Yeah, feel's good. I can get something done (increased confidence, trust in myself etc.)."
Then it kinda took off to a more serious path.

I got into wantrepreneurship, increased my goals and the thought was along the lines of: "Hey, if I would commit to this crazy IronMan thing, I would probably succeed with my entrepreneurial goals too."
So I started working out like crazy, gained weight and muscle (old teenage struggle crushed), improved my cardio fitness where I wen't from walking 5k to running half marathons in around 6 months.

But. While that's all great, there's way more important point - the development of mindset. I was broke, depressed, lazy, unhealthy etc. Trough sports I got myself together - confidence, discipline, mental strength, ambitions, health and much much more sky-rocketed!
And for me to attain that, there's nothing better than gruelling endurance trainings. Where your legs are falling off, you're mind is just: "why the hell??? too freakin' hard, aaaahhh!!!" But. You keep going.

Entrepreneurship for me is the same. It's a freaking IronMan. It's hard, very few can do that there's day when you don't wan't to get out of bed. There's moments when you'd rather be somewhere else. There's days where it hurts and your performance is shit and you just wan't to quit. But. You don't! As long as you stick to it - you're progressing.

I could go on and on, but the main points is (as made here on forum before): Entrepreneurship is a marathon. It's long, gruelling and sucky, but the finish line makes everything worth it.

That's why I do triathlon - learning to enjoy and endure long, gruelling efforts no matter what.

And yes, my life has changed drastically over past year. There are many other contributions to that, but sports is definetely one of the key things.
It sounds like our stories have a lot in common.

I also didn't work out before parkour, and the grueling discipline, the injuries, and the repetitive nature of learning a particular nove really prepared me for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

As a result I could take risk more readily than most people, find different ways to go through the obstacles we all face when going after our dream, and attack whatever problems came along the journey head on. It seems like a physical discipline and entrepreneurship have a lot in common. It's taking the hard falls on a floor made out of padded mats, so that when you take them on concrete you've built up a resistance and can handle much more and bounce back quickly.
 

msufan

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I've completed three marathons, and I definitely have the same mindset toward life as I do in those races: persistence, just keep going no matter what, no looking back, etc.
 
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scottmsul

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I was really into parkour for a couple of years, would go to a gym ~3x per week. Unfortunately the owners moved locations somewhat far so I haven't been in a while. It's fun as hell though. I liked that I could move at my own pace, and work on whatever I felt like. There was no strict training regimen, so you had to take initiative to decide what to work on. Very fastlane, no one is there to tell you exact steps to progress you kind of just have to figure it out as you go. Very rewarding too, like when I could finally walk on rails at height or climb-up regularly.
 

Vitaly the Winne

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I've completed three marathons, and I definitely have the same mindset toward life as I do in those races: persistence, just keep going no matter what, no looking back, etc.
It's survival preparedness, whether in day to day life, or the business world. If you haven't already, check out a guy named David Goggins, he's unreal.
 

Vitaly the Winne

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I was really into parkour for a couple of years, would go to a gym ~3x per week. Unfortunately the owners moved locations somewhat far so I haven't been in a while. It's fun as hell though. I liked that I could move at my own pace, and work on whatever I felt like. There was no strict training regimen, so you had to take initiative to decide what to work on. Very fastlane, no one is there to tell you exact steps to progress you kind of just have to figure it out as you go. Very rewarding too, like when I could finally walk on rails at height or climb-up regularly.
It's the best feeling, being able to finally do moves that you watched videos about only days or weeks before, and training your body while also having huge amounts of fun.

Also don't let a lack of a gym stop you. Recently I've been training on school playgrounds and parks, and you can do just about everything you can at a park as in a gym, just gotta be aware of the impact on your body and start out on softer ground and lower elevations. Like building a business from the ground up, learning different skills, and then putting it all together. Very fastlane like you said, it's really helped me see things like a kid again, and get my creativity back, which can then be applied to life in general. There's no feeling like it really :)
 
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msufan

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It's survival preparedness, whether in day to day life, or the business world. If you haven't already, check out a guy named David Goggins, he's unreal.

So I literally just dropped everything and read his book today based on your recommendation. Goggins is definitely unreal, but I'm not sure he's someone to model yourself after. I kept waiting for the point where the dude allowed himself some joy in his accomplishments, but he just looks for crazier challenges to tackle, even when it costs him his wife, shatters his body, etc.
 

JunkBoxJoey_JBJ

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Vitaly the Winne

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So I literally just dropped everything and read his book today based on your recommendation. Goggins is definitely unreal, but I'm not sure he's someone to model yourself after. I kept waiting for the point where the dude allowed himself some joy in his accomplishments, but he just looks for crazier challenges to tackle, even when it costs him his wife, shatters his body, etc.
You're absolutely right, that's the one thing I didn't really agree with on his journey, I guess it made sense to him for his own reasons. I was mesmerized by his ability to overcome tremendous obstacles, basically flip the course of his life around and go from a struggling kid with low self esteem who other people didn't think much of, to a badass ultra marathoner and a guy who went through all of the special ops trainings in the military, definitely something to be admired. He certainly payed a very high price to make these things happen though.
 
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Bryan James

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I work out a lot. I've noticed that a snowball effect occurs when I force myself to go to the gym and just get it done. I basically insult and belittle myself in my head (on purpose though, like a drill sergeant). As far as weights are concerned, I start out doing as many reps as I can with the maximum weight I can manage. The next sets I incrementally lower the amount of weight, which makes more reps easier to do each succeeding time. I walk for 3 miles after that and get a natural "walker's high". When I started working out and focusing more on my health, I noticed that after that first day of sacrificing crap food and lifestyle for hardcore self-discipline, I felt twice as good than I would had I been lazy and nutritionally irresponsible. It's just like entrepreneurship: you force yourself to get started, you make sacrifices, and your tomorrows are always better than your todays (so to speak).
 

Vitaly the Winne

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I work out a lot. I've noticed that a snowball effect occurs when I force myself to go to the gym and just get it done. I basically insult and belittle myself in my head (on purpose though, like a drill sergeant). As far as weights are concerned, I start out doing as many reps as I can with the maximum weight I can manage. The next sets I incrementally lower the amount of weight, which makes more reps easier to do each succeeding time. I walk for 3 miles after that and get a natural "walker's high". When I started working out and focusing more on my health, I noticed that after that first day of sacrificing crap food and lifestyle for hardcore self-discipline, I felt twice as good than I would had I been lazy and nutritionally irresponsible. It's just like entrepreneurship: you force yourself to get started, you make sacrifices, and your tomorrows are always better than your todays (so to speak).
Right on, that's an awesome story! I also lift weights in order to power up my parkour performance, and it helps in other ways. Increasing your max is just inspiring, recording the progress, and being able to look at where you started and where you're at now, really feeling the accomplishment. And it's absolutely a very uphill run on some days. Right now I'm about to go and train, and that's the last thing I want to be doing, afterwards is when I'll feel great about it. Just like in entrepreneurship, doing things that we don't necessarily like over and over to build up those resilience muscles or a base, and then seeing the results take off. It's like watering the bamboo tree, for years you don't really see much progress, but when you do it shoots up and becomes a whole tree within a very short time period, you just have to keep continuously watering it.
 

Veloman

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I've been a traceur(parkour practitioner) since 2010 now, took the last year off to handle things in life, and allowed other things to get in the way.

So now I'm almost two weeks back into practicing, thankfully since I kept up the intensity in the form of running and weight training over the last year I can still do the moves, which is great.

After each training session I've noticed something interesting. The mindset of overcoming obstacles and looking at different ways to get from point A to point B has led me to developing a similar approach to problem solving and makes it so much easier to maintain a positive attirude and focus on the goal throughout the day.

My question for you guys is this, for those who have practiced intense and physically and mentally demanding disciplines(such as martial arts or a maniacal dedication to training for a sport), what are some of the biggest benefits you guys experience as a result that transfer over into helping you become a better and more effective entrepreneur?

That things which seem impossible are achievable if you work like mad.
 
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Vitaly the Winne

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That things which seem impossible are achievable if you work like mad.
It's process vs event thinking. If we break everything down into bite sized pieces, eventually the seemingly impossible becomes the already finished.
 

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It's something I've always looked at and wanted to do, but ... I can see it being a one way ticket to snap city for me. I agree on the parallels to entrepreneurship for sure.
 

Vitaly the Winne

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It's something I've always looked at and wanted to do, but ... I can see it being a one way ticket to snap city for me. I agree on the parallels to entrepreneurship for sure.
Hahaha, sounds like you've done a pros and cons analysis and the cons outweigh the pros.

On a personal note, I was a kid who sat on a couch and played video games all day, so it's entirely possible, no matter what level you're at. And it absolutely reconditions the mind into seeing obstacles as challenges and asking yourself how something is possible.

When I see a wall I'm tempted to climb it and look at different paths I can take and when I look at an intangible obstacle my mind starts writing a list of ways to overcome it. I guess it's been a physical form of personal development, like reading a book or listening to an audiobook is like a mind workout.
 
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