49. Be an Example of What’s Possible

My name is Patrick McGilvray. And I’m an experienced marathoner Ultra runner, Master life coach, and weight loss coach for runners, I’ve learned that running more and eating less does not work for weight loss, and that there’s a better way. Now I help runners like you to get leaner and get stronger. So you can run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.

Hey there, and welcome to episode number 49 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. How are you today? I am doing amazing. I went for a run this morning. And it’s cold here in Cincinnati this time of the year. And I just feel alive.

It made me feel very grateful for my health and the fact that I get to go out and run whenever I feel like it. And it was cold. And I just felt very much alive. It was an awesome experience this morning. So today I want to talk about how to be an example of what’s possible and what that means for you and for the world.

This is the final episode in the series I’ve been doing on the Running Lean manifesto. So the Running Lean manifesto is a set of guiding principles that when you practice them each day, you get to create the life that you’ve always wanted for yourself, you can accomplish anything you want, you can be who you want to be.

And when you do that, when you become that person you ultimately want to be, you inspire others, you inspire others to want that for themselves. So in this episode, I’m going to be sharing my thoughts about what it means to live your life in such a way that you become an example of what’s possible for others.

And if you like this podcast, then please come check out the Running Lean community on Facebook. This is a fun group of runners that all share the same kinds of goals like we’re all there to help each other, whether it’s to lose weight, or run faster or run farther or to get stronger.

Whatever your goals are, we’re there to help encourage you support you and help you get it done. Okay, the stuff I teach over there in the Facebook group is is similar to what I teach here in the podcast, they kind of go hand in hand with each other. And we do some fun things like right now we have this cool running through the holidays challenge going on over there in the Facebook community.

And we’re encouraging each other to run a mile every day between Thanksgiving Day, and New Year’s Day. It’s a great way to relieve stress during this kind of a stressful time of the year for a lot of people. And it’s a lot of fun. So we’re having fun over there. Come check us out on Facebook, just search for the Running Lean community.

Okay, I want to get into this because this is like I’ve been really wanting to share this stuff with you guys. I really love this topic I’m gonna be talking about today. And that is to be an example of what’s possible.

So like I said, we’ve been working our way through the Running Lean manifesto. So I created this manifesto, or this set of guiding principles to kind of frame everything that I teach here on the podcast, everything I teach with my clients. Because when you practice these principles in your life, you can create an amazing life for yourself. It’s really that simple.

Okay, so we’ve been going through the list of all of the principles of the manifesto, and I’m going to kind of recap them here. But just think of it this way, think of this as a guideline for living an amazing life. Okay, so you want to have an amazing life. Here’s how you do it. Okay, so here’s the manifesto. And here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve covered so far.

The first principle is to eat real food. This means that we are eating whole food, food that is as close to nature as possible. So unrefined, unprocessed food, foods our ancestors would have eaten, not some stuff full of you know, garbage and sugar that is brand new, you know, snack food industry type of stuff.

This is like tried and true food we’ve been eating for millennia. We want to optimize our health from the inside out. So it starts with eating real food.

Number two is to live vibrantly. That’s living every moment of every moment of your life, with meaning with purpose, doing everything with positive energy with enthusiasm for living, as if every moment of your life matters, because guess what they all do, they all do.

Number three is to thrive in your body. And this is, like where, where you’re always wanting to improve our physical body, we don’t want to be jamming our body full of garbage so that we become diseased and sick. You know, we want to improve our physical body, always working to become healthier, to become stronger and to be more fit.

Number four is to embrace discomfort, I talk a lot about this, we don’t want to run away from hard things, we want to move toward them, we want to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. Because when we do that, that is when we grow. That’s the only way to grow. You know, everything that you want, that you don’t already have is outside your comfort zone. So I encourage you to seek out discomfort and face it, head on.

Number five is to run because you love it, stop running just to lose weight, you know, I got to burn these calories, I better run more. First of all, it’s not very effective. Second of all, you end up doing it because you feel like you have to. And then running becomes a chore. And it’s something you have to do and you get resentful.

And you grow to like just hate running. This happens to so many people. I want to encourage you instead to fall in love with running, and fall in love with all of the amazing benefits that running does provide for you. The adrenaline, the dopamine that you get, you know, people that run regularly are just happier than other people than normal people.

I always say that runners are a little abnormal, and it’s fine. I love it. I like being abnormal, because the norm is to be overweight, and miserable. And unhappy. Like I don’t want that. I want to be abnormal. How about you?

Number six, love yourself unconditionally. This is like stop beating yourself up. If you make a mistake, or if you fail or when things don’t go your way. Practice positive self talk, have your own back. Love yourself unconditionally means without condition, meaning loving yourself, no matter what, no matter what you’ve done in your past, or what you haven’t done. You know, no matter which way the number on the scale is moving. We love ourselves through all of it always.

Number seven is to think, feel and act with purpose. This is oh my gosh, this is a life changing principle right here. This is like taking responsibility for your own thoughts. Taking responsibility for your own feelings and taking responsibility for your actions. And that’s it.

Because you can’t control anything other than your own thoughts, feelings and actions can’t control others. We try to, doesn’t work. And we blame other people for how things are going in our life. We blame other people for how we feel, doesn’t work that way. Take back your power, start creating the life that you want, on purpose. And it all starts with your thoughts and your feelings and the things that you do.

And then the eighth principle, and more we’re gonna talk about today, is be an example of what’s possible. Because here’s the thing, when you live your life, by all of those other principles that I just went through, you will become an example of what’s possible. Being an example of what’s possible means that you’re living your life in such a way that you inspire others to want that for themselves.

So people will look at you and say, hey, if she can do it, so can I. Be an example of what’s possible means being an example to others, obviously, but it also means being an example to yourself, like blowing your own mind at what you are capable of accomplishing. It’s about building confidence in yourself and building trust in yourself.

Strengthening your relationship with yourself. It’s about having this inner knowing and this confidence that you can do anything that you want that truly anything is possible. Being an example of what’s possible is about finding the edges of your comfort zone and then going beyond them. Right it’s about always becoming more whatever that looks like for you.

So maybe for you, it’s, you know, you have a lot of weight to lose. Or maybe you want to run an ultra marathon. Or maybe you want to climb a mountain, or write a book, or start a business, whatever your big, audacious goal is that you have for yourself. This is what we’re talking about, it’s about being an example of what’s possible by accomplishing what you feel might be impossible.

I want to give you a couple examples of what this looks like. The first one is my son, Colin. So Colin, to me, is an inspiration. And he is a perfect example of what’s possible. So Colin has always been a bigger kid. And, you know, earlier this year, he finally came to me and asked for help losing weight. He always struggled with his weight, it was really hard for him during high school and things like that.

And after high school, even, he’s just 21. So he’s still young. And to be, you know, overweight, at that age is tough, okay. And I always wanted to help him, but I never pushed it with him. You know, I knew that. When he was ready, he would come to me. And he did. So I started coaching him and the first thing he did, is that he made this commitment to himself that he was going to go all in, he had this commitment level, like I’ve never seen anybody else. It was awesome.

He had his vision for who he wanted to be. And he would always tell me, like future Colin wants to look like this. And future Colin is going to have these clothes. So he had this vision of himself, and he was all in on who he was going to be no matter what. Like, this kid was like, determined to make this thing work.

And he had a lot of weight to lose, he had 100 pounds he wanted to lose. But he went into it into this whole thing. And, you know, obviously, you know, I was helping him. I was coaching him through all of this, you know, I taught him all these principles that I just went over with you.

And he started adopting them. And he started practicing them. And he did, he lost over 100 pounds this year. And he did it in a way that, frankly, just is so inspirational to me. He adopted this mindset of I’m going to lose 100 pounds, no matter what, no matter how long it takes, I’m going to make this work, it is going to happen. This is like, damn, this is a solid commitment level. Okay.

And because his commitment was so solid, when I asked him about this recently, he was like, yeah, losing the weight was just it was effortless. It’s because he just was like all in. And when you have that sort of a mental attitude, and you’re so committed to becoming this other person, you know, what you do becomes easy.

Today, he’s down like 110 pounds total, he feels so good about himself. And he did it. That’s not a magical formula. He just did it by practicing these principles. That’s it. So Colin, to me, is an amazing example of what’s possible. He decided. He made a decision that he was going to be this future. Colin, he is that person today. He did it by practicing these principles. That’s it. Okay.

Now, today, he inspires a lot of people, people are always coming up to him and asking him because it’s dramatic when you lose 100 pounds. Like that’s dramatic, right? And people see him. It’s kind of funny, he works or used to work in the customer service department of this organization.

And somebody came in from the warehouse and was like, who’s the new guy in customer service? And they’re like, that’s Colin. He’s been working here for like three years. And it’s like, oh, my god that’s Colin?! How? Like, they couldn’t believe it. They thought it was a new breed that looked like a different person.

But he is an amazing example of what’s possible and he inspires people. People look at him and they’re just like, wow, they’re blown away. But he’s an example of what is possible. If he can do it, other people can do it.

I had a similar experience this year. I didn’t lose 100, I lost 40 pounds, which has been, you know, amazing for me, okay? It wasn’t easy. Losing 40 pounds requires a daily commitment. And I knew that I had to have that same all in attitude every day if I was gonna make this work for me.

And, you know, I’ve talked about my weight loss a lot in here on the podcast here, and today I’m at my ideal weight, okay, I’ve lost the 40 pounds, I’m in my ideal weight and staying there is easy, it doesn’t require any effort at all.

I didn’t do this by going on some whack diet. I didn’t do it by staying in my comfort zone. I didn’t do it by beating myself up every time the scale like went up, because it does go up sometimes. You know, I didn’t do it by hating on myself all the time, I did it by just following the principles that I’ve laid out here, at least to the best of my ability.

And there’s other parts of my life where I’ve practiced these exact same principles to accomplish big things. You know, I use these to train for and have a successful marathon. Recently, I’ve been following these same principles to train for and run my 50k, which is coming up next weekend.

So I’m eating real food, I’ve been embracing the discomfort I’ve been loving myself unconditionally. I’ve practiced running because I love it. And every day I work on thinking feeling and acting with purpose like, so I just take all these principles and apply them to everything that I do.

My plan for next weekend is to run this ultra marathon which is 50k, 31 miles, fasted. So nothing to eat before, no fuel during, no calories, just using my own body fat, which gives me all the fuel that I need for an event like this.

So this is not something you just wake up and do it. You don’t just like go, hey, I think I’m gonna run 50k tomorrow, without eating any calories or anything like that. No, that’s not going to work. I promise you. It takes time to train and it takes time to turn yourself into an efficient fat burner.

But that’s exactly what I’ve set out to do this year. I have this goal to run a 50k fasted, I’m going to do it next weekend. And if somebody asked me like, well, how do you do that? How do you prepare for something like that? Like, what do you eat? What do you not eat? It’s not about what I’m eating or what I’m not eating. I mean, it’s a little bit about that. It’s, but there’s all these other things that I have to do. Like, there’s eight principles I’m following here.

Right, but I’m doing this because it’s hard. I’m doing this because it’s a big challenge. And I’m doing it so that I can be an example for you. So that I can be an example of what’s possible for you. Because if I can do this, there’s things that you’re probably thinking, oh, well, I can do this half marathon or a marathon or whatever it is.

And listen, I’m not special. I don’t do this perfectly. I have setbacks, I face challenges every day, I experience failure, I struggle just like everyone else. But you know what I do? I just keep going, I just keep doing the deal, no matter what. I am 54 years old now.

And earlier this year, I made a decision that I was going to get myself into the best shape of my life at 54 years old. And guess what? I am today. I can look myself in the mirror and say, damn, I’m in really good shape. I feel amazing about myself.

And you know, I’m like buying new clothes, they look great on me. I don’t have to wear baggy clothes. And I have all this confidence about how I look. And this is something I’ve always struggled with. I’ve always been sort of like, uncomfortable about how I looked. But I wanted to be an example to myself of what I could do that anything is possible.

That if I wanted to get in the best shape of my life at 54 years old that I could do that, then I could be whoever I want it to be, it doesn’t matter how old I am. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done in the past or what I’ve been able to do or not been able to do. Doesn’t matter how I’ve thought about myself in the past, that this is what I wanted for myself.

Now, I want it to be an example for you. And for myself. Like I said, I’m nothing special. I’m just like you. If I can do it, you can too and that’s the way I try to live my life every day. This is my mission, my mission in life is to be an example of what’s possible. And I try to do big things. To do big, challenging things, so that I can fulfill that mission so that I can be an example of what’s possible to you.

I want you to say, man, if Patrick can do it, so can I, because he’s just a normal person like me. And you know, I’m very public about this stuff, I talk about this, I have this podcast, right, I’m in my Facebook group. And I teach this and I have clients, and this is my profession. This is my, this is my calling, right?

Being an example of what’s possible is my mission and my calling, I just feel called to do this. And I share all this very publicly. But you don’t have to be public. You don’t have to be like a leader, to be an example to others.

People see you, they see how you live your life. They see your integrity, they see your dedication, they see the commitment that you make, to getting these results that you’ve that you want to accomplishing big things, they see your commitment to yourself, they see you becoming more being an example of what’s possible doesn’t mean you have to be some leader or public figure.

When you live your life by these principles, when you become more, people notice. I promise you that you will notice. I love my life today. More than any other time in my life. Honestly, I love where I am right now in this moment. And I used to dream about the past a lot. The good old days, oh, if I could just go back to the 80s when I was in high school, and everything was so cool.

I didn’t have as many responsibilities and my life was so much easier. And we had all this fun, whatever. And of course, the music and the hair and everything, right. And I used to just really pine for the old days, and I just don’t do that anymore. I don’t have to dream about the past. Because my present is so freakin good.

Listen, I do work that I love. This work that I do is sharing these ideas with you. This fulfills me, helping people get results, changing people’s lives every single day, this, I love this work, it fills me up. It brings me so much joy. You know, I get to make my own schedule, I get to run every day, if I feel like it. I have all these amazing, deep and meaningful relationships with people who I truly love and who I truly care about.

You know, I’m creating the exact life that I’ve always wanted for myself, and I’m creating it on purpose. It’s not just happening to me, I’m creating this life, I’m making it happen. And every day, I kind of blow my own mind with how amazing my life is, like some days, it’s just, I feel so good.

It almost feels like my heart is gonna burst out of my chest. I feel so good about just my life. And this is not bragging, this is not about ego. This isn’t about me boasting about how awesome I am. No, it’s about me being in integrity with myself.

You know, I have this vision for who I want to be. And then every day I just try to act in alignment with that vision. That’s all. I do it by practicing these eight principles. That’s it. I practice these principles in all my affairs. In everything that I do, I’m thinking about these things.

Now, these eight principles, they’re not just something you learn. You might be listening to the podcast, you’re like, cool, I learned those eight things, awesome. And then you just go on with your day. It’s not like that. There’s not something like you hear once or you read once or you learn.

You have to live them. You have to live them every single day. And, and you practice them. Right when I say practice, it’s like any other kind of practice, like practicing yoga. Practicing yoga is a challenge.

I’ve done a lot of yoga, and I’m not very good at it. I mean, I’ve gotten better, but I don’t do it perfectly. And I don’t practice these principles perfectly either. Like far from it. I have my own, you know, anxiety, fears, challenges, and I work through these things every day. The difference is that I keep showing up.

I don’t let those challenges, fears, anxieties stop me from becoming who I want to be. I want to leave you with this thought, imagine, if we were all examples of what’s possible. Imagine if you follow these principles, and you created an amazing life for yourself. And you inspired one other person to do the same.

And then imagine if that person inspired someone else. Imagine if you’re an example for someone, they became an example for someone else, and on and on and on what an amazing world this would be right?

This is my hope that you become the person you’ve always wanted to be. And then you inspire someone else to do the same. Imagine the transformation you could have in your family and your community and in the world. You totally got this, my friends, lots and lots of love to each and every one of you keep on Running Lean. I’ll talk to you soon.

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