Reflections on my 206-Mile Journey: Lessons in Excellence

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a 206-mile road ride from Seattle to Portland with my great friend, Rajkumar Balasubramanian. As first-timers in this event, we were filled with excitement, anxiety, and self-doubt. However, we successfully completed the ride in under 13 hours, and it turned out to be a fantastic day.

Though 4 weeks have passed since the ride, I still feel immense satisfaction, self-belief, and gratitude. The memories of preparation, planning, and execution continue to play on a loop in my mind. Reflecting on this experience, I realized the parallels between the challenges I face in both work and life. This journey has inspired me to distill some key traits that contribute to excellence, which I now share as a "run book" for success.

What Is Excellence?

To me, excellence is about identifying a meaningful problem, acquiring and applying the necessary skills to arrive at an optimal solution, executing with maximum effort, seeking feedback, and repeating the process until satisfied.

You've likely heard many leaders emphasize the importance of "falling in love with a problem." I genuinely believe that this is the most critical first step toward excelling. Whether it's a personal goal—like learning a new skill, improving health, planning for retirement, or advancing in your career—or a broader public, social, scientific, or global objective, the journey starts with passion.

Observe

When you truly fall in love with a problem, you'll naturally begin to observe its nature closely. You'll analyze objectives, root causes, and impacts, making careful notes along the way.

Clarity

Once you've observed the problem, pen down three to five clear objectives. Attempting to solve everything at once is not wise. The key is to strike a balance and prioritize objectives that offer the most significant benefit. Achieving this clarity requires deep observation of the problem.

Zone Out

In today's fast-paced, multi-dimensional world, focus is often undervalued. Setting aside time to "zone out" and concentrate on essential solutions for one or two critical objectives is crucial. Trust me, you'll thank yourself later if you take this step seriously.

Consistency

Consistency is the compound interest of success:

Result = Passion x (1 + Focused Effort / Incremental Improvements)^Number of Repeats.

Even dedicating just 15 minutes of focused effort each day can yield incredible results over the course of a year.

Reward the Process, Not Just Success

Don't set goals solely around winning; instead, focus on learning. Aim for goals that seem beyond your reach. Building the resilience to keep moving forward, even when each step feels like a failure, is one of the most powerful skills you can develop. Whether you're learning a new coding skill, building AI, or picking up a new sport, the principles remain the same. Reward the learning process, not just the outcomes.

Rinse & Repeat

Cultivate the grit and endurance to continue learning until you're fully satisfied with the outcome, then move on to the next challenge. Avoid the trap of comparing your journey to others. Instead, find peace in your incremental progress. The rinse-and-repeat cycle of any learning process will teach you two invaluable lessons:

• Self-Satisfaction and Gratitude: These bring joy and peace
• Confidence to Travel Far Without Fear of Failure

Mind & Body Connection

Without a strong mind-body connection, everything mentioned above could fall apart. Make it a habit to engage in moderate to intense workouts for at least 30 minutes, four times a week. These workouts will enhance your neuromuscular connection, ensuring high energy and great focus throughout the day.

For the past four years, I've diligently practiced these principles, and the changes are evident. My focus, attention to detail, and ability to handle context switches without stress have all improved. I firmly believe that knowledge is a superpower, and excellence will naturally follow as long as you keep learning. So, keep learning!