5 Small Business Lessons I Took Away from My Tough Mudder Experience
Turning 50 this year gave me another reason to do something I already enjoy: pushing myself outside my comfort zone. It had been 12 years since my first Tough Mudder, and I was curious about how my body would handle that kind of challenge today. So last week, I headed to Nashville, Tennessee with a friend to take on a Tough Mudder 5K that included 15 obstacles, plenty of mud, and three obstacles involving electric shocks. I guess you could say I was feeling extra curious!
The thing that separates a Tough Mudder 5K from a traditional 5K, aside from the mud and obstacles, is that there are no official finish times or first-, second-, and third-place winners. The focus is on teamwork and completing the course together. You bring your own determination, but along the way, you find yourself accepting a boost from a stranger, offering a hand to someone behind you, and celebrating each other’s progress.
As a small business owner, I’m very familiar with taking on challenges and figuring things out along the way. Through my work with other business owners, I also see how much responsibility they carry for their employees, their customers, their families, and the business they’ve worked so hard to build.
Looking back at this experience, I see several small business lessons connected to those responsibilities.
Small business lessons I brought home with the mud
1. Give yourself an opportunity to discover what you can do
Part of signing up was wanting to see what I was capable of at 50. Twelve years had passed since my first Tough Mudder. I knew this experience could feel different, and I wanted to give myself the opportunity to try.
Business ownership presents similar moments. You may be considering hiring your first employee, pursuing a larger contract, raising your prices, or stepping back from daily operations so someone else can lead. Each requires moving into something less familiar.
There’s preparation involved, of course. But sometimes we continue preparing because trying feels uncomfortable. We wait to feel more confident or for the timing to feel easier.
Taking on this course gave me information I couldn’t get by simply thinking about it. I learned where I felt strong and where I needed help. A manageable stretch in your business can do the same.
You don’t have to commit to a major change all at once. You might test a new service with a few customers or give an employee responsibility for one project. Give yourself a chance to learn through action.
2. Accept help as part of moving forward
The eight-foot Berlin Wall obstacle was daunting. Getting over it required an initial boost from another participant. Once I had that help, I was able to scale the wall.
Their contribution mattered. So did my effort. Both played a part in getting me over it.
Small business owners can become accustomed to handling whatever needs to happen. Especially early on, you may be the salesperson, service provider, problem solver, and person answering emails after everyone else has gone home.
Over time, doing everything yourself can become a habit even when support is available.
That support might come from an employee who is ready for more responsibility, a bookkeeper who can help you understand your numbers, a fellow owner who has navigated a similar challenge, or a coach who helps you think through a decision.
Asking for help starts with recognizing where you’re stuck and what would be useful. The boost at the wall didn’t take away from my accomplishment. It helped me accomplish what I had set out to do.
3. Use what you’ve learned to help someone else
At Mud Mile, we worked through a series of muddy ten-foot trenches and hills. Each time I reached the top of a hill, I would turn around and help pull a few people up. Then I would go into the next trench, climb another hill, and do it again.
I still had plenty of course ahead of me, but I could help from where I was.
As owners, we build knowledge through our experiences. We learn how to handle a difficult customer conversation, recover from a mistake, or recognize when a process needs to be updated or changed. Much of that knowledge becomes so familiar that we forget that other people haven’t learned it yet.
Helping employees develop means making time to share that knowledge. Take a moment to explain how you arrived at a decision. Let someone observe a customer conversation, then talk through it afterward. Give them an opportunity to practice with guidance.
When we’re busy, stepping in and doing the task ourselves can feel faster in the moment. Teaching does take time. But helping someone become more capable creates more people who can contribute as the business grows.
4. Consider what people are carrying before asking for more
Mudderhorn, the next-to-last obstacle, challenged me most. I wasn’t concerned about the forty-foot height. The difficult part was scaling the initial ten-foot wall to reach the climbing net.
By the time I reached this obstacle, I was physically tired. Even with support, I had to use the upper body and core strength I had left to pull myself up, swing my leg onto the ledge, and bring the rest of my body up.
The effort required at that point was affected by everything I had already done.
That’s something worth remembering in a small business, where a few people may carry many responsibilities. An employee who usually handles a task well may struggle when they’re also covering an absence, learning a new system, and responding to urgent customer requests.
Before assuming that they need more motivation, find out what’s really happening. Ask what is taking the most time, which priorities are competing, and where they need clarity or practical help.
Include yourself in that assessment as well. If every decision and problem still comes back to you, consider what could be delegated, simplified, delayed, or stopped. Understanding the demands on people helps you make better decisions about the support that they need.
5. Take time to appreciate what you accomplished
I loved this adventure! It was physically hard, and I enjoyed being around people who were challenging themselves and supporting one another. The laughter and connections that came from this experience added to the wonderful memories made.
At the finish line, I felt proud. I had chosen to take on the challenge, worked through the 15 obstacles, and discovered that at my milestone age of 50, I am still capable of doing something that demanded a lot from me.
Business owners can move quickly past their own accomplishments. You finish a demanding project, resolve a staffing issue, or reach a goal, and your attention shifts almost immediately to whatever needs you next.
Resist that urge and take a moment to recognize what happened. Acknowledge your effort and the contributions of others. Tell an employee specifically how their actions helped the team or a customer. Reflect on what you learned that could help next time.
There will always be another goal. You can give this one a moment before moving on.
The support behind the achievement
I signed up for Tough Mudder to push myself outside my comfort zone and see what I could do. I finished proud of myself and appreciative of the people who helped me along the way.
Owning a business asks a lot of us. We bring our determination, experience, and willingness to work. We also benefit from people who offer perspective, share responsibility, and help us through the parts we find difficult.
That’s the lesson I keep coming back to: you can achieve hard things, and the right support can help you get there.
What’s one challenge in your business that could become more manageable with the right support?
Share your answer in the comments. And if you’d like a thinking partner for that challenge, let’s connect at lifelongdevelopment.com.
Comments