🏊🏻‍♀️🚴🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️Action Over Words: Sweat, Saltwater, and Satisfaction from Designing A Triathlon

The Day I Turned Dreaming into Doing and Tri-ed Something New

Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋

Greetings from Honolulu, Hawaii

Let’s jump straight into letter 207 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!

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❓Question to think about

What is the relationship between dreaming and doing?

📸 Photo of the Week

🖊️Writing

Let’s dive into an unforgettable weekend: I designed a triathlon and rallied four adventurous friends to take on the challenge with me. 

 The true victory? 

We brought it to life. After all, taking action always trumps standing still.

It all started with a conversation at a Galentine’s get-together in February. While on a sugar high, drawing names on brown bags and passing out tiny Valentine's notes with candy to each other, fitness goals became a talking point. A few girls were talking about doing marathons, Iron Mans, and triathlons this year. My ears naturally perked up as I’d recently been gifted a road bike for my birthday. At the same time, I’d just been laid off from my job, so investing over a thousand dollars as I had in 2023 on gear and admittance to triathlons and swim competitions felt indulgent and not in my cards. 

But I still knew what I felt was true. My heart started beating faster with excitement at the mere thought of having fun doing fitness events with friends.

For over a decade, one friend complained about how much money triathlons are, so I made it happen. 

How did I do it?

A month later, I followed up in a group text with the three friends who were interested. I asked about available dates and locations. I felt nervous about whether they’d still be interested in committing to the idea. So often, people just like talking about doing unconventional things without acting on them. To my relief, there was immediate buy-in. Everyone wanted to commit and expressed gratitude that I brought up the idea again. Even one of my friends' husbands joined in too.

We chose April 21st. The location was unanimously agreed upon: on the windward side of a quaint town called Kailua. 

Everyone except for me was familiar with this place, having lived or worked there before. I was excited to get more familiar with it.

Next was the decision of distances. Instead of doing an Olympic distance event, we decided a sprint distance would be more approachable for a first go-around. We designed the course to swim half a mile to Flat Island(or, in Hawaiian, it’s called Popoia), bike 13 miles to and around the Enchanted Lakes, and run 3 miles around the Lanikai Loop. 

This was my first time swimming in Kailua, so I was nervous. The Flat Island looked further away from the beach than I expected, and there were waves with potential for a current. Thankfully, the box jellyfish didn’t come until the following week. My friends who are lifeguards could regrettably not attend. It comforted me that it was shallow throughout and I knew everyone in the group loved swimming. All my friends assured me it was a popular and fairly safe path for swimming.  Regardless, in the briefing before this tri experience, I emphasized that safety comes first.  

We decided to have a meeting at 8 a.m. at a dropped pin by a beach pavilion would be best. I don’t own a car, so my friend Maddie graciously took me, my bags, and my bike to the windward side. We arrived an hour early to drive the bike course and drop cones at each turn. Tracking the course on this custom-designed Strava map helped show others the path beforehand. 

I worried people would still get lost, but I grounded that thought in my intention of this experience, which was to have fun with friends while swimming, biking, and running.

This made me zoom out and recognize it doesn’t need to be perfect to be fun and good enough to participate in. 

Initially, I wanted a bunch of friends to come so there could be even more energy surging through like the sponsored events where I’d preciously paid 200+ dollars to attend. Since I only shared this by word-of-mouth, four friends showed up, but that was enough. It was much more fun and exciting to race in an intimate group of friends rather than an overwhelming crowd, like at the Honolulu Triathlon the year prior. I loved bonding with these friends over this shared experience and gifting each participant a painted paper plate and woven friendship bracelets as an award for showing up. 

As we savored the victory brunch—veggie egg scramble, berry fruit salad, sausages, and homemade banana bread—surrounded by the friends who had shared the sweat and saltwater, I couldn't help but reflect on the journey from idea to execution. It feels profoundly satisfying to transform the triathlon dream into reality, knowing that it all started with a simple, inspired conversation at a Galentine's gathering.

Dreaming fuels our ambitions, but it is action that forges them into reality. This experience underscored a powerful lesson:

Words are cheap if they are not tied to actions. 

Back in 2017, I drove my brother to his first Ironman in Madison, Wisconsin. Goosebumps rose on my skin as I felt completely blown away, seeing a 79-year-old stand next to a 16-year-old on a stage, acknowledging that they’d both competing in the same event the following day. I dream of participating in an Ironman someday, perhaps as part of a team or even just half, provided I manage to stay injury-free and without breaking the bank.

I love this picture of you Mitch, even though I know you do not.

I didn’t used to always be a “doer”.

In 2020, I jumped off the high dive again with a splash into personal assessments. My onboarding for my first gig at a fully remote startup was to create my personal operating manual. I discovered that I am an ENFP type (extrovert, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving), and ENFPs drop the ball. I felt seen, and my stomach dropped. I’ve experienced this with countless unfinished creative projects, from the family Alaska video in 2016 to my first book in 2019. The list could go on forever. At the end of my time here on Earth, I do not want to be known as a distracted person with shiny ball syndrome.

Execution—turning the abstract dreams into reality— is what I find most notable and respectable. I've learned that the path to becoming a 'doer' is paved with small, imperfect actions, consistently taken.

To anyone striving to make their dreams a reality, remember that movement, however minor, is progress. According to Newton's first law of motion, an object in motion stays in motion. Likewise, once we initiate action, maintaining momentum becomes easier.

Here are seven pointers:

1. Journal your dreams. Turn the abstract ideas in your head into the real world on the pages of your journal. Ask yourself: “What ideas am I excited about?”

2. Set a clear intention while turning the ideas into projects and ask, “Why do I want to do this?”

3. Prioritize ONE project. This is important. Clarity and focus are key here. “Which project excites and resonates most with my current priorities?”

4. Have an outcome for the project that you can tangibly share in reality. Ideas are less useful until they are backed up by action. This could be shared with someone via text or recording a video.

5. Choose an end date to take action by. If it’s more than a month away, consider scaling it down. “By what date will this be completed?”

6. Appoint an accountability partner. Ask a friend or family member to hold you accountable. Put money on the line if losing money would motivate you.

7. Bonus: Seek out support. Have conversations about the idea and do research on the project of how others might have done it. A warning: don’t get too caught up in the reading about action instead of actually taking action.

Remember not all dreams must be a BHAG, which Jim Collins defines as a “big hairy audacious goal.” Starting small allows every step forward to feel like a victory. I'm thankful for the triathlon we created and eagerly anticipate the next adventure.

Let's be dreamers who do. And I invite you, too, to join in this journey of turning dreams into deeds.

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🎬 Watching

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty The Secret life of Walter Mitty

Walter Mitty is a shy magazine asset photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams. He pays $137 to sign up for eHarmony only because he overheard that his coworker was on the site and he wanted to send her a wink. After finding an empty travel journal from his youth, he feels inspired to go live life by the ABCs — adventure, bravery, curiosity — to go embark on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.

A favorite quote that is the tagline of the company LIFE in this movie:

“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the Purpose of LIFE.”

🎧Listening

So Sick Of Dreaming by Maggie Rogers

So you think you're on the right track
Cruising on the bridge in your gray Cadillac
You think it's easy
Walking on the water like they're steppin' stones

But when every little thing's up for takin'
Oh, it makes me want to sing, my heart's breakin'
Oh, there ain't no diamond ring you could buy me
To take me home

Oh, 'cause I'm (ooh-whoa)
So sick of dreamin' (ooh-whoa, ooh-whoa)
Oh, and I'm
All that I'm needin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

🔍Word to define

Dream (vb.): contemplate the possibility of doing something or that something might be the case: I wouldn't dream of foisting myself on you | [with clause] : I never dreamed anyone would take offense.

1. Experience dreams during sleep: I dreamed about her last night. • [with object] see, hear, or feel (something) in a dream: maybe you dreamed it | [with clause] : eventually I dozed off and dreamed that I was flying among the clouds.

2. Indulge in daydreams or fantasies about something greatly desired: she had dreamed of a trip to Italy | this is not at all how she dreamed her baby's birthday was going to be.

Etymology

mid-13c., dremen, "to have a dream or dreams, be partly and confusedly aware of images and thoughts during sleep," from dream (n.). Transitive sense of "see in a dream" is from c. 1300. Sense of "think about idly, vainly, or fancifully; give way to visionary expectation" is from late 14c. Related: Dreamed; dreaming. To dream up a "picture (something) in one's mind" is by 1941.

In the older sense of "sing, rejoice, play music," it is from Old English drēman (Anglian); dryman (West Saxon), from the Old English noun. This was obsolete from c. 1300. (source: Etymonline)

🖥️ Reading

The writer Derek Sivers writes that:

“Ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.”

Instead of merely appreciating ideas, those who show up in the arena and execute on them inspire me the most. This is why I've shown up for the past 206 weeks of writing my Letters from a learn-it-all.

🌟Four Quotes to inspire

“I would rather fail than sit idle.” — Vincent van Gogh, a Letter to his brother, Theo 14th July 1885 from Ever Yours: The Essential Letters

“You know you’re in love with what you're working on when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr. Seuss

“Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” — Gloria Steinem

“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” — Paulo Coelho

🙏Shoutouts

• To Maddie, Rebecca, Jenna, and Jesse for being joyous, adventurous participants in the triathlon

• to

  Shaun Usher
  for the quote to Inspire in his latest Letters of Note on “I would rather…”

• To the editors of this piece who made it better than before including

  CansaFis Foote
  ,
  Becky Isjwara
  , Alice Sholto-Douglas, and April Resnick

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I appreciate you reading this!

If ideas resonated, I’d love you to press the heart button, leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetjl@gmail.com. If you forgot who I am, I welcome you to my online home.

Keep on learning 😁

Mahalo 🌺

Jen

PS - If you enjoy this piece, you’d like what I wrote last week on the magic of manifesting your desires. I’ve also written previous on intentional dreams in letter 53, why having dreams is important in letter 97, and on bucket list items in letter 64.

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