Getting After It

159 - Stick to the Plan. Especially When It Sucks.

• Brett Rossell • Season 5 • Episode 159

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What do you do when the plan falls apart?

In this episode, I share the story of a marathon-distance run that didn’t go as expected. My brother Drew and I had mapped out a desert route—then a storm rolled in. Flash flood warnings. Lightning. The whole thing went sideways. But we didn’t quit. We pivoted. We stuck to the plan, even if it meant finishing 26.2 miles on a treadmill.

This episode is about those moments when everything goes wrong and you have to decide: do I fold, or do I keep going?

If you're pushing for something hard right now—this one's for you.

3 Key Takeaways:

  • Discipline means doing what you said you’d do—especially when it’s no longer fun.
  • You don’t need perfect conditions to follow through. Just the decision to keep going.
  • The plan matters. But who you become by sticking to it matters more.

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I hope today’s episode sparked something within you to pursue your dreams and unlock your true potential. If you found value in it, consider sharing it with someone who might need that same push.

Getting After It is for those who. want to silence their self-doubt. Refuse to be owned by comfort. Understand their limits are man-made and breakable. We live in a time of constant comparison. Social media drowns us in highlight reels and overnight success stories. But what most people don’t see is the grit behind it all. The reps. The quiet mornings. The sacrifices. The failures.

You are just getting started. Keep Getting After It. 

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SPEAKER_00:

Oh baby, do I have a story for you guys today? I have a lot to say actually, and before we get into that, I I've been thinking a lot about where I want to take the direction of the podcast in terms of the topics I cover and the kind of guests I have on. Uh I just want it to be more relevant to the listener. Like I want it to be actually impactful impactful for the people who are listening to this. And I want to make sure that I give you guys actionable things that you can take and implement into your lives to make it a little bit simpler and help you get after your goals a little, not a little, a lot more sustainable, a lot more accountable, and get you there for faster. So, point of all that is if you have ideas, if you have topics you'd like me to cover to give my own insight on or my own thoughts about, I'd be happy to talk about it. And I in fact, I would love to hear what you guys say and what you'd like to hear. So let me know. Um, let me know in the comments or wherever you guys uh just let me know. But I'm excited. And for today's episode, I want to talk about yesterday. I had a very long training run I was supposed to be doing. I in fact came down to Arizona uh so I could be with my wife over the weekend, so we weren't doing distance, it sucks. And secondly, I wanted to run with my brother Drew because we're both training for an ultra marathon that's coming up in two weeks, and this is our last big effort run, our la last long run before we begin tapering and getting ready for this actual race. And so our plan was simple. You know, we were going to go to the desert, we were going to run a full marathon in the desert. Um, we were gonna bring, you know, a cooler and and go back to the car periodically. We split it up so it was a 12-mile loop. Um, and we were just gonna do that twice and then run a mile and a half and back to to make it the full marathon. And I was pumped, everything was looking great. Thursday, my brother and I we talked about it, we were excited, we talked about what we needed, and then Friday rolls around, and the weather forecast was not promising. It said lots of rain, and that's the problem with Arizona is it doesn't rain. But when it does, it storms and it floods, and it's it's wild. Like monsoon season in Arizona can turn streets into rivers. Like it's I've seen it many times, it's pretty cool actually. There's this quote I keep coming back to everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Thank you, Mike Tyson. That's what happened to us. We kind of got punched in the face. Our plan was simple. We were going to wake up. I was gonna go pick up Drew, we were gonna get to the trail and get it going. But the plan went this way: I woke up at 3 45 a.m. It was cold, and got up, got ready, I was feeling good, and then I got in the car and started driving, and it was raining. But then when I started getting closer and closer to Drew, the raindrops started getting bigger and they started coming down faster. Like there was a ton of rain. And the roads were already starting to flood. Like I ran into those massive puddles, you know, the the big puddles that you go on the side of your car, and it was just like it goes all the way up, right? I went through a couple of those, and as I was going to Drew, Drew's house, like I could see water on the road. Um, like it was just coming down hard. The sky opened up at this point, and it was just pouring down on us. And so that's what I'm I'm saying. Like, sometimes that punch in the face isn't necessarily a real punch, like sometimes it's a thunderstorm, or you know, it could be a thunderstorm at four in the morning when you're looking uh at trying to run a marathon in the desert. That's kind of where today's story begins. So when I got to Drew, um we talked about it, and I was like, I don't know if it makes sense for us to go out to the desert because where we were gonna run, there were washes everywhere, and there were riverbeds. And so we knew, being from Arizona, those were gonna be filled, and there were probably going to be rushing rivers, like rushing waters, uh, especially while storm's going on. Like it probably wouldn't be that smart. Like, all right, I thought, well, we could probably run, um, but I guarantee we'll probably make it like five to six miles and then decide, hey, this is too money, there's too much water, let's let's go back. And after that, would we go and and try and finish it elsewhere? I don't know. And that the problem was kind of everywhere. Like, there were there was water on almost every path and trail. Um, it really felt like some biblical storms, like flash flood warnings. And when I got to Drew, he uh he sent me this alert, like he showed me this alert that he had on his phone from the weather app, and it said, significant threat to life or property. And so we're like, okay, we probably, yeah, that that's kind of the icing on the cake. Let's not go out and run in the desert. And yeah, here we were, just two idiots with electrolytes and water packs, thinking that uh we'll outrun Mother Nature. That's not how it works. And I want to pause for a second. Like, this is the decision point, the fork in the road, if you will. Like, do we bag the race? Do we do five miles in the sand and mud, call it cross-training, and then go get some Meg McMuffins? It sounds nice. Or do we keep the plan and shift to the battlefield? So we chose the plan. We decided, hey, 26.2 miles, that's what we decided on, and we're gonna get it done. And the only place that we could go was the gym. So we ran, we decided to run a marathon under treadmill. Yes. Like, who does that? Honestly, just two psychopaths, I would say. Because I don't know, after 10 miles on a treadmill, I will start to lose it. Like, if that's if that's what I'm doing, um, for some reason didn't go run outside, like it that is a lot. That takes a lot. Um, and it's just it's boring. Like, you're in the same spot, you're looking at the same thing, and luckily, like, if I didn't have Drew, I don't know if I would have been able to finish that because doing that alone would have been would have been painstakingly slow. Um, and so that's what we did. Like, we went to the gym, we started in the uh the EO uh EO's theater. If you guys know what that is, is it's like a theater room with cardio equipment in there. Um kind of smells like burnt rubber and sweat, if you're if you're in there long enough. Uh they were playing Night of the Museum, uh, which like great movie. But it was pretty hot in there. It was stale, like Drew and I couldn't breathe, so we're like, okay, screw this, let's just go into the main area. And we found these treadmills um right next to each other, and basically stayed there for three hours and 45 minutes. It took a while, but there's a few things I want to discuss here. Like, there were no more excuses, it was time to get it done. And I had to make that shift initially to be like, hey, listen, this is this is gonna suck. But the plan is there. Like, I gotta stay stick to the plan if I want to be ready for the race that's coming up in two weeks. And that takes discipline, that takes effort, that takes focus. Even though it wasn't what I expected, even though it wasn't the run that I wanted to, like it was still great in many ways. Like Drew and I, we talked mostly for the whole run, honestly. I think until like mile 22, we probably I think we put our headphones on around that time because we're like, hey, we both gotta lock in, get this crap done. So, I mean, we it was great. Like talking to him the whole time. We talked about you know our goals and our plans for running in the future and how we felt about the race that was coming up. I was sharing peach rings with him and gushers, and he was giving me some goos and all that fun stuff. So it was fun, like it was a nice time just to be with him, and that's what's interesting about that experience is it's like I was suffering. There's no other way around it. Like, I was I was in pain on that treadmill, and how cool is it that I get to suffer with someone who I look up to as much as Drew? Like, he's made some crazy changes in his life, and he's become a man who doesn't fear adversity, he doesn't run from it. He's he's there to get things done, and that showed yesterday because it takes an insane amount of mental fortitude to endure something like that. I know it sounds weird, but it's hard. Like running a marathon on a treadmill was difficult. Like around mile 15, things kind of uh slowed down a bit. Like Drew and I I knew we were both feeling some fatigue, our focus started to slip. Um, the gummy worms weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing. And uh then mile 18 came up, and I don't know what it is about mile 18 with the marathon, but that's when you got, you know, not too much left. You literally have eight miles after that to finish. But that's where a lot of people hit walls. I hit my first wall during my first marathon around that time, so did Drew. And luckily, like we were able to push past it, but that doubt did creep in, and it's something else that you have to push past. Like that voice in your head that shows up, you have to learn whether or not to listen to those thoughts. Like I wrote down some of the thoughts that I had. One of them was, are you sure you need to finish? Another is is this even smart? The third was, wouldn't it be easier to quit now? Of course it would be. Of course it would be easier to quit now. Are you sure you need to finish? Yes, I was sure. And is it smart? I don't know. I don't know if running a marathon on a treadmill is smart, but um I was sticking to the plan. That was my goal, and I wanted to see it through. And that's exactly what today's episode is about is when things happen, when your plans don't go the way that you expect them to. Your feelings are not in charge in those moments. The plan is in charge, and you should try your best to stick to that plan, even when it's difficult, especially when it's difficult, actually. Like you need to focus on what you can do, what you can control, and that'll give you a lot of power. And life will shift your route all the time. Like things will come up in your work, in your family, in your relationships, in your personal pursuits, in a podcast, in creative endeavors, life will throw curveballs your way. And the key element here is to learn how to adapt. Because you shouldn't change the destination, you just might have to switch the way that you're gonna get there. And I know everyone who's listening knows this moment. You know, you start something big, you're training for a race, could be building a business, maybe even writing a book, and you have this plan, you have a schedule that you want to set yourself on, you have these goals, and then something breaks. Things do not go the way you want them to. You lose that momentum, the energy fades, you hit some kind of resistance. And then the question comes up that everyone has to deal with, and that's should I quit? No, you should not. You should not quit, but maybe, maybe, just maybe, you need to pivot. Maybe that's what your focus should be on. Maybe you do 26.2 miles in a gym instead of a trail. And the mistake that I think most people make is that they look at change, they think change equals failure. But sometimes the adjustments themselves are the success. And we don't see that until we are you know through the trial, through the the challenge. There's that famous quote from Steve Jobs that you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. The point is, is you are in charge of where those dots go. And each dot is a plot on your life to where you can look back and say, okay, well, now that I'm through it, what did I learn? What stood out to me? What made sense? And that's the thing is you didn't quit. You just recalibrated. That's discipline. And that discipline ultimately leads to power, power, like empowering yourself, empowering other people, and getting you closer to your goals. At the end of the day, that's that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to become the best versions of ourselves that we can. And we can't expect that path to go perfectly every single time. In fact, you shouldn't expect it to go perfectly every single time because if you do, you're gonna set yourself up for quite a bit of disappointment, and you're gonna think of yourself as a failure. And so don't associate making changes to plans or adapting any way that you need to as some sort of failure. Look at it as a strength. Like, did I ever think I would run a marathon on a treadmill? No, I've talked about it. I I think you know, it'd be pretty funny to actually do it in in previous thoughts I've had. I'm like, that would just be insane. Like running a marathon on a treadmill. I know people have done crazy distances on treadmills, but again, those people are psychopaths, and I probably fall into that bucket too because I actually ran a marathon on a treadmill. It was it was brutal. Um the hardest part about that whole thing was honestly mental. Like, yes, I I think running, of course, takes a lot of physical uh exertion and endurance, but it also requires an insane amount of mental strength and mental endurance. And go and try and run a marathon on a treadmill, see how bored you get. It's tough. But again, like I'm proud of the work that I was able to do given the circumstances I had. That's what really helped me see that I was still doing my best, I was still trying. Just because it rained out, the trails we were going to go on, and just because, like, you know, the weather app was like, hey, you might die. This is a severe threat to property and uh life, like whatever. Given those circumstances, I still got the distance in. And I'm not trying to brag here, I'm just trying to get a point across that change is not failure. Quitting is. Quitting is failure. But if you decide to change your route to get there, that's not failure. That's power, that's strength, and that's discipline. Um there's a couple things that have always helped me, like when I set out for a goal, I I try and think of you know four things, at least running specific goals. But you can apply this to whatever um whatever thing you might be going through right now. So the first one is decide in advance what matters. You like you cannot decide in the moment. In the moment, you will choose comfort almost always because it's easier to choose that. Like it's a much harder flip in your brain to be like, nope, no, no, no, we're not doing that. It's easy to give into comfort. And make your rules so clear that your brain understands them perfectly. So decide in advance what matters most to you. Is it completing the distance? Is it your speed? Is it your if you're writing a book, like making sure all the character development is going right? Whatever the scenario is, ask yourself what's important and prioritize that the most. Number two is know what your non-negotiables are. Ours was very simple. It was 26.2 miles. Rain, it did not matter. We got bored, doesn't matter. We were tired, and that doesn't matter. The goal was 26.2, and we were not gonna stop until we finished that, even if it took us all day long. Like, even if we had to go back and do, you know, a few sessions each, like five sessions of five-mile runs. Like, if if that's what we needed to do to get it in, we were gonna get it in because the goal for us is to run Canyon Lands Ultra Marathon in two weeks. Allie's also part of that, but Allie actually got out on the trails and crushed it last week, so she's a beast. But understand what your non-negotiables are and try to make it simple. Like for us, it was that 26.2, but for you it could be a thousand words a day if you're writing a book. Or if it's a business, do 10 outreaches a day. It doesn't matter. Like, figure out what is non-negotiable for you and stick to that. Three is detach from perfection. Like going back to the run. Was it the scenic? No, not at all. It was very boring. And was it glamorous? Not even close. There was no one cheering, there was nothing like that. But it was done, and that's what's important. And I think a lot of the times we, myself included, get so focused on having things, trying to have things perfect that we lose sight of actually what's important to us. Perfection, in many cases and in many ways, is a deterrent to success. Because you, and I'm so guilty of this, but you try like I will go out and I'm like, I have to do this exactly the way, or it's a failure. And I think perfection also, like, at least with my running, I think it's of pace. Like, I want to have a good pace, and and all that has to like sometimes my ego plays into that and is like, okay, well, you're not even keeping a good pace, like you should just quit the run anyway. And that's not true. Like, if your speed's slower than you wanted it to be, it doesn't matter. Like, it's done. Like, that's what was most important at the end of yesterday is Drew and I both got that run done. It was not a perfect run, but it's what we could do at the time. And the lastly, I would say fuel yourself properly. And of course, that's like a running analogy. Like, make sure that you're getting carbs and all that stuff. But fueling yourself also means like find encouragement, find purpose, because that plays into the fuel of you pursuing your goals and trying to get after it each and every day. Drew helped me keep going in those moments, and I believe I helped him as well. And it's because we were talking to each other, we were having great conversations, we were making the most of the situation that we were in, even though both of us hated it and it sucked. But whatever. Um so I I went ahead and I tried finding some psychological concepts. Like I said in the beginning of this podcast, I want to make it more relevant. I want some actionable takeaways to have for you guys, uh, each and every episode. And here's a couple that I thought were very interesting, and I want to make a note of them. So the first is cognitive dissonance. What that means is when you say you're disciplined, but you skip hard things, you feel that kind of tension. You feel like a fraud in some senses. But following through, even in chaos, actually, especially in chaos, that keeps your self-respect intact. It's staying true to your word. Like, do not lie to yourself. That is such a hole that you will dig yourself into. You gotta follow through in your word. That will build so much confidence in yourself. Like, take it from me, someone who didn't have much confidence before I started running and started understanding that I actually was capable of some of these things. And from a podcast, like when I first started, I was scared. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know how people respond or react. And I just kept pushing forward. Um, and I I'm able to say, like, yeah, I'm a podcaster, I actually am, because I I do, I post regularly, I have an audience, and that only comes from doing the work. And I couldn't say I was a podcaster if I didn't have the evidence to prove it. And so, with you, same kind of thing applies to your goals. If you're trying to become, if you're writing a book, you got to become an author by actually becoming an author, like doing the work. You can't say you're an author and keep pushing the project off. Do it now, do it today, and have urgency. Second thing I want to bring up is goal setting theory. So have clear, difficult goals that leads to better performance. That goal of 26.2, it kept us moving even when that motivation died because we had something that we were aiming to. There's a bug in here. I think I got him. No, I did not. He's flying around. Whatever, I'll get him later. But that is important. Like, if you have a your sight set on some kind of goal out there, whether it's you want to, you know, get X amount of followers on Instagram from your business, you want to reach X amount of dollars and profit, whatever the goal is that you have for yourself, make it so clear that it's not at all able to be taken in any different way. Like that is what the goal is. That's how you should follow it, right? Um, so be very clear with your goals. Don't don't be um like make it clear. That's all I'm gonna say on that. And then effort justification, like the harder the task, usually the more we value the outcome. And I would say just be careful with this though, because not everything that is hard to get will be worth it. So you have to choose your goals wisely, but don't set goals that are too easy for yourself. You need to challenge yourself on a regular basis. That's so important. It's important to be able to push past that, it's important to be able to fight through some of those thoughts that come up. Like when Drew and I were running, I had so many negative thoughts, and I didn't have to listen to any of them, and I didn't listen to any of them because they didn't help me. Like they were all just baby thoughts, like, oh man, this is not fun. You still have to be here. It's only seven o'clock. You gotta wait, you gotta keep running for like another two hours and 45 minutes. You sure you want to do that? This sucks. Like, oh, you're gonna be sore for the rest of the day. You might be really tired. You woke up at 3 45, like all these stupid thoughts in my head, right? Like, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about when you're going through something difficult or when you're pushing yourself hard in the gym, everything in you will tell you to quit. And all you have to do is ignore those thoughts and push past them. Ignore them. Sometimes your brain gives you these thoughts to protect itself when actually they actually hurt you because you're not doing what you said you were gonna do. And it's that cognitive dissonance. All of a sudden you start not trusting your word. And who wants to be in that situation? Follow through with what you say you're going to do. There's this quote from Winston Churchill where he says, if you're going through hell, keep going. That's exactly what we're talking about. Don't stop in the middle of it just because things start to get tough. Where's that gonna get you? It's not gonna get you very far, I'll tell you that. But if you're going through hell, keep going. Like, who knows how long it'll last with whatever thing that you might be going through. It could be a challenge you've been dealing with for years, and who am I to say, yeah, keep going through hell? That sounds like a good plan. But maybe that's what you have to do. Sometimes the answer sucks, but maybe that is what you have to do. You have to dig deep and keep going. And I'm reading this book right now called Fearless. It's about Adam Brown, who he's a Navy SEAL, he was on SEAL Team 6. He was a Navy SEAL, and he had a very crazy past, like he was addicted to drugs, and his life fell apart, and then he decided to clean himself up and join the Navy SEALs. Of course, there's a lot more to it, and I would highly recommend the book Fearless. But there's this quote that their family says quite a bit, and it's do what you gotta do, and in the end, you'll be stronger. And that same principle applies if you're going through hell. Sometimes you just have to do what you gotta do, and in the end, you will be stronger if you decide that it's not going to determine who you are, it's not going to be a factor in your maybe not a factor, but it's not going to determine who you are as a person. If anything, you'll know what you're capable of and be able to push past it. So let's let's wrap this whole thing up. Let's um bring it all together. What was the whole point of today's topic? Well, I want you to create a plan before the emotion actually shows up, and then follow it like a compass and really stick to it. Make that plan crystal clear, have actionable steps at each point where you're gonna be, and follow through. And have contingency plans. That's another one that's very important. Is yes, have a plan. But if things go straight, if things go awry, you will have a contingency. I learned that from Jocko in college, but basically, it's your backup plan. Have a backup plan because you have no idea when things are gonna decide to throw mud in your face and say, hey, this is this is not gonna work. You gotta figure out a different way, you've got to adapt. But if you have those plans already set out, you have a plan A, B, C, D, E, F, G, all the way through the alphabet. It might be a little extensive, but you know what I'm saying. You will be more able to follow through on your goals. You'll be able to see more progress, you'll be able to see more success. And that's because you are making that progress, you're adapting along the way, and when things do not go as expected, you're still pushing and you're still getting stronger because of it. That's very important. Be accountable to yourself and use others if you need to. Like Drew was a great accountability partner for me yesterday because if I didn't have him, I don't know if I would have been able to finish that on a treadmill. It was unbelievably difficult. But share your goal publicly somehow and don't go at it alone. Other people want to help. Reach out to them, ask them for feedback, ask them for assistance, but use them. They are resources that you can utilize. Um redefine your success as completion rather than perfection. Like I said, perfection is a trap that will get you spiraling. It will get you thinking about your thoughts and it'll be get you thinking about your goals, whether or not you're achieving them as perfect as you may want them to. That is important to be able to narrow in and figure out yourself. And finally, like, talk to discomfort. As weird as that sounds, you need to literally say, hey, you don't get to decide. When those feelings of pain come up, or the thoughts of whether or not this will work with whatever you're doing. Whenever those come up, you need to say, hey, go away. Like it, as weird as it sounds, give your discomfort a name. You can call it Kenny if you want. Kenny, hey, Kenny, get out of here. You're not allowed to be here today. We're getting this done. Go away, Kenny. Like, I don't know, do little things like that. But discomfort honestly is the enemy of progress. Because no, no, no, no, no, no. It is not the enemy of progress. Comfort's the enemy of progress. Discomfort is the enemy of your own self-talk. It'll push you, it'll really test you. But you're always in charge. And that's something you need to remember. Now, this episode, it was not about running. It's about what happens when life literally storms on your plans and you're left standing in the rain asking, Do I still go? Do I still get it done? The answer is yes, you do. You adapt, you adjust, but you keep the damn promise to yourself. Stick to the plan, especially when it sucks. That's the title of the episode. Because the point isn't to have perfect conditions the whole time. You're not gonna have them. The point is to become a kind of person who follows through, no matter what. And if you're listening to getting after it, I know that's you. You're someone who follows the plan, who sticks to it, who, when challenges arise, you figure out what you need to do to make them better. That's the getting after it community. And then you help other people along the way. That's the goal too. And last thing I'll say is discomfort, perfection, all these things that that get in the way of our own thinking, that get in the way of our goals. They're all our own thoughts. They're generated by ourselves. And you have the power to focus on what you want to think. About. And so if you recognize that you're having a lot of thoughts, like, I don't know if I can do this, or this is so hard. Like, ask yourself if you're focusing on the right thing. Are you thinking about the effort? Or are you thinking about the outcome? There's an antidote to procrastination. And it's focusing your shift instead of the effort that you have to do to get something done, to rather the outcome. If you focus on the outcome, that's how a lot of people don't procrastinate. They say, hey, I'm working towards this. I know there's gonna be a lot of work that goes into it, but they try not to think about that. They focus on the outcome. So that's what I want you to do is think about the outcomes. What's most important to you? And follow through with that. I appreciate you guys for listening. Um, it means a lot. And I hope some of these things help you. Because, like I said, this is just kind of a live journal of things that I wish I would have learned when I was younger. Um that have helped me in my life today. But I appreciate you guys for listening. If if you learned something, please share it with a friend. Give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, that always helps. And until I see you next time, as always, keep getting hungry, my friends. Thank you.