Driven by making sense

The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc is drawing closer, with just over a hundred days until the start in Chamonix. Right now, though, many other things and thoughts have more of my attention. My #lifeworktrailbalance is not quite balanced. So be it. I am working on finding more time for training and sporting goals in a few weeks, starting with Hochkönigman. And I am not alone.

The people around me matter enormously in every part of my life: professional, sporting and private. There are new ideas in the air, too, and I am looking for the right people to help turn those visions into reality.

I run into limits along the way. I want to motivate and inspire, as when I ran from Vienna to Copenhagen and persuaded my father Johann to selflessly accompany me in a campervan. Sometimes, though, I hear that everything I do revolves around me and that plans cannot work without my leading involvement. I do not need or want to be the person at the centre of every story. I would much rather be part of a group, motivating us to pursue and achieve a goal together!

My father accompanied me from Vienna to Copenhagen because he believed in the vision that I could reach a destination 1,002 km away!

Of course, I have to do the running myself. When I give a talk, as I soon will at a trail weekend in Rauris or at Pitz Alpine in Pitztal, I am the one on stage. I will not deny that I enjoy the role. But it would be even better if the stories I tell motivated others to act. Sometimes that already happens. Recently, a colleague improved our entire project management over a weekend by taking responsibility for introducing new software development processes. In line with our vision, his tireless work helps us deliver even better quality to our customers.

There is a difference between a leader and a boss, and I want to lead by example.

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Yet I know I am still a long way from living up to this thought from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Wisdom of the Sands”:

If you want to build a ship, do not gather people to collect wood, assign tasks and divide up the work. Teach them to long for the vast, endless sea.

Motivation can come from financial recognition, the prospect of fame, honour or gratitude. Inspiration goes deeper. It is connected to insight, intuition and profound love. Planting those feelings in other people’s hearts is perhaps one of the hardest things a person, athlete or entrepreneur can do.

My talks, runs and ideas may or may not inspire. My means are limited, but I use the opportunities available to me every day. My longing for the vast, endless sea — or mountains, in my case — is boundless.