The rule of thirds and how it helped me build my startup

I like to run. A while back I was listening to a podcast where the hosts were talking about how to get the most out of your training when preparing for an upcoming race. I think I heard it on The Rich Roll Podcast. It had a big impact not only on the way I approached running, but also the way I approached building my startup.

The concept is the rule of thirds. The idea is that in order to make consistent, meaningful progress during training, you should feel awesome a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and lousy the last third. Applying this principle to running helped me get better, and it helped me even more as I build GRW.

As I build, I make amazing progress some days, run into nothing but problems other days, and sometimes make decent progress. What's important is that I am always try to have the amazing days, but know that sometimes things don't go my way and that there's nothing wrong with that - as long as I am putting in consistent effort. It's important to be realistic and not freak out if things don't go your way. Some days things just don't click, not due to a lack of effort but just because for some reason it's not the day.

It helps me keep a healthy balance between deciding when to push and pull back. If I've had a run of really amazing days or really tough days, I tell myself it's okay to pump the brakes a bit to avoid burnout. Too many amazing days means I'm working super hard or I'm not challenging myself enough, too many really tough days and I probably need to scale back and reevaluate what I'm trying to do. If I've had a few okay days back to back maybe I'll try and ramp things up a bit if I think I can handle it.

Having the rule of thirds in the back of my mind helps me remember that it's fine to have bad days because it's the consistency that will ultimately lead me to my goals.

It's an idea I'm sure has been talked about and applied to a variety of different domains, but it had too big of an impact on me that I couldn't not share it. It's a pretty simple idea and when applied correctly can have a profound impact on your progress and mental state when building