Summary

“The way we spend our days is the way we spend our lives.”

Finisher of over 120 ultra endurance events in 17 countries, Travis Macy is a speaker, author, coach, and professional endurance athlete. He is the author of The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion’s 8 Core Principles for Success in Business, Sports, and Life.

He holds the record for Leadman, an epic endurance event consisting of a trail running marathon, 50-mile mountain bike race, Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, 10k road run, and Leadville 100 Run, all above 10,200′ in the Rocky Mountains.

In this episode we discuss what it takes to become an endurance athlete and indeed how these same principles can be applied to all our lives to maximise our success. We discuss his book, Ultra Mindset, principles for daily life such as how to embrace fear, rewrite stories we tell ourselves, and master the art of seeking help, among others.

Travis enjoys helping people make the most of life and is happy to share all in this interview. Enjoy and as always, peace, passion and purpose.

Key Take Outs

• No TV. The greatest master to most of us – the TV. Switch it off or minimise it. It is a wasteful use of time and for most part it is negative and not educational. The average person spends over 5 hours per day watching the TV, imaging what else that could achieve if they put efforts towards their passions.
• Family Values. Discover your family values and use these to guide deacons in life and direct you better on a path more true to yours.
• Choose your own adventure. Don’t be fooled into thinking you have to walk the path that society and others have set out. We need to choose our own adventure. The meaning of life will be better discovered when it is your own journey.
• Communication. Ask questions. Be mindful of how you communicate to others and yourself with awareness of the language you choose. Communication is a gift humans are blessed with and within communication much can be learned and happiness can be found.
• Being vulnerable is scary, or is it? I have written and discussed this several time on The Hidden Why. I believe living out a full and rich life with no regrets really needs to be one where you are truly your authentic self. This may mean you feel vulnerable and while the immediate fears come about the longer term benefits will be life changing.
• Exercise and being outdoors. There is so much to exercise and a daily practice will raise your effectiveness in life in many ways. Getting outdoors is also an essential practice. We evolved outdoors and the connection to the earth is truly soul satisfying. Find more time for it.
• 8 Core Principles for developing an Ultra Mindset. Grab a copy of Travis’s book for more on these principles.
• Commitment. If you say you will do something- do it. It is powerful beyond belief once you get in the practice of being integral with yourself. “Do as you say you will do.” It becomes harder and harder to let yourself of the hook.

What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?

At the start of your adult life understand that you don’t need to know your entire life’s plan.

His interpretation of success

You can define success however you want. Living a fulfilling life with family, spending much time together, sharing love, and valuing experiences.

Quick round questions

Favourite Food

Salads

Favourite Leisure Activitiy

Running and biking

Favourite book(s)

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown

The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion’s 8 Core Principles for Success in Business, Sports, and Life by Travis Macy

Quote

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Theordore Roosevelt

What does living life with passion and purpose mean?

Having multiple things in your life that you are truly enthusiastic about and then set up your life so that you address those things that you are passionate about. This will help you live a purposeful life.

How to find Travis and other links

You can reach out and find out more about Travis at his website here.

Macy and his wife run an education consulting firm that you can discover more at www.macycollegeconsulting.com.