One Handed – Page 13 – On Life with One Hand by Keiron McCammon

The Science of Motivation

May 12, 2011 by keiron Leave a Comment

I came across this animated video of a talk by Dan Pink on the science of motivation and wrote down its 3 principles on the whiteboard in my home office and have been staring at them on and off now for a good few months. Since the talk really resonated with me I thought I’d pass it on…plus, love the animation.

Don’t think it’s going to spoil anything for you, but…big shock…beyond a certain point money is not the main motivator. And certainly, in my experience, not if your goal is to motivate people sustainably.

Keith Cunningham, one of my business mentors, says “you don’t just want to achieve success, you want to sustain success”. I think likewise for motivation, you don’t just want to motivate in the moment, you want to motivate for the long term.

So whether you are looking at what might motivate you sustainably or you are looking to sustainably motivate others, research shows there are three ingredients you need to add to the mix:

[list class=”bullet-minus”] [li]Autonomy – our desire to be self directed[/li] [li]Mastery – our urge to get better at stuff[/li] [li]Purpose – our need to be driven by something outside ourselves[/li] [/list]

Hope you enjoy the video…

I AM IRONMAN!

December 1, 2010 by keiron 3 Comments

Finishing Ironman Cozumel — Crossing the Finish Line

Wow, holy cow, oh my god, *add your own exclamation here*, was that hard! But I’m pleased to report I am officially an Ironman, 140.3 miles in 14 hours, 44 minutes and 38 seconds…the hardest 14 hours, 44 minutes and 38 seconds of my life.

What started 10 months ago reached fruition this Sunday with completion of race # 11, Ironman Cozumel. That’s a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run, back-to-back.

It’s hard to describe how intense it was. It’s obviously been quite a build up to this point and spending the 5 days prior to the race acclimatizing in Cozumel all added to the experience. Come Saturday night I went to bed at 9:00pm, alarm set for 4:30am. Unfortunately, I was wide awake at 1:00am, sleeping fitfully through to 4:30am…not unusual for race day, but a little more sleep would have been nice.

Ironman Cozumel Water Start — Starting the Swim

After a quick bowl of cereal and cup of tea off we headed on the shuttle bus to the race start at Chankanaab Park. And what a crazy start it was.

I’d setup for the swim/bike transition the day before, so prior to the start all that had to be done was check the bike, walk the transition and then watch the pros head off at 6:40am. As soon as they left 2,500 competitors jumped into the sea ready for the mass in-water start. I now know what it feels like to be a fish in a shoal as we bobbed around waiting for the start…and then all hell broke loose and it was every man/women for themselves. That’s the largest mass start I’ve ever done and to be trying to swim in a sea of bodies was challenging to say the least.

The upside was the beautiful, crystal clear, aquamarine sea and 80+ fahrenheit temperature. Looking back now the swim seemed to pass quickly, if an hour and 27 minutes can be called quick, that is. Actually, I’m very pleased with the swim, I was hoping to complete the 2.4 miles in an hour and a half, but thought that might be too optimistic, so I did well. Along the way you get to thump and be thumped by your fellow competitors, watch the divers below blow “air rings” up at you and do your final turn as you reach the submarine…yep, a little different from your average triathlon.

After the swim it’s a short run to pick up your bike transition bag and into the changing tent to get dried off and into your bike gear, the pros are all done in under 2 minutes, me, more like 13…but, hey, what’s the rush. With the swim done, 112 miles on the bike beckoned. This consisted of 3 laps of the island (yep Cozumel ain’t that big).

I started out feeling good, my first lap averaged over 17 mph, but for about two-thirds of each lap you’re peddling into wind (head or side wind). To give you an idea, normally, when training on level terrain, I’d be in the large cog on the front, here I was having to pedal in the small one (I only have two). It was as if you were constantly going uphill and the best part was, with each lap, the wind picked up, so by lap two I only averaged 16.5 mph and by lap 3 I was down to 16 mph. I’d hoped the bike might take between six and six and a half hours, it took me 6 hours 46 minutes (that did include a pee stop and rest stop to restock my nutrition) and I’d definitely used more energy than I’d figured into the process, which didn’t bode well for the run.

Once you finish the ride you hand your bike off to be racked and grab your run transition bag and head to the changing tent, by way of the porta-potty, of course. The run transition is usually the quicker of the two, but for some reason it took me longer than my bike transition, nearly 15 minutes…must have been one long pee! Anyway, after changing and putting on more vaseline (don’t ask) and sun block off I went for the run, full of vim and vigor…and that, ladies and gentleman, is where a tough race turned really tough.

The run also consisted of 3 laps, the first 8 and a bit miles weren’t too bad, I ran for nine minutes and walked for one, probably averaging around a 10:30 / mile pace. Approaching the halfway point of 13.1 miles I’d slowed to a 12 minute / mile pace, running 4 minutes and walking one. I managed to drag myself around to complete the second lap, but, knew I was toast as I came around the turn point for the last lap. I saw Kerry, who’d be out supporting me the entire day, and told her I was well and truly pooped!

Ironman Cozumel Run — Start of Lap 3, is it over yet?

As I approached the 18 mile mark I hit the proverbial wall. In all my races to date I’d never reached the point were I felt I just couldn’t keep moving. For the next 8 miles even walking was hard, my pace slowed to 18+ minutes / mile, time dragged on and only sheer will power and determination kept me moving forward. I knew if I stopped I likely wouldn’t start again, I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and let the finish line come to me.

I can tell you waves of emotion wash over you at that point, you’ve been going 14+ hours, your legs ache, your back aches, your feet ache, heck even your aches ache. The sun had set several hours ago, the winners crossed the finish line just as you were starting your run, the field has thinned out so it’s just you out there, maybe occasionally someone who can walk faster than you passes you by…that is why they call it an Ironman.

You just keep moving forward.

And so it was that after just over 6 hours since starting the run I reached the finish line, not pretty, but then again Ironman is not about being pretty, it’s about grit and determination, perseverance and will power, conquer or be conquered. To all those that have trained for and completed an Ironman I salute you, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done…but I am IRONMAN!

You can view more pictures of my race on Facebook

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

Help me raise $10,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation

6 Days and Counting

November 21, 2010 by keiron Leave a Comment

T-minus 6 days to race day, Ironman Cozumel here I come.

It’s been 10 months, over 30 miles swam, over 2000 miles ridden and over 420 miles run. I’ve completed 3 triathlons, 2 half marathons, a full marathon, a 70.3 mile Ironman and a few smaller races in between for a total of 10 races to date…with one race to go.

I’m so ready to get this done, since completing my 9 hour brick workout (2 hour bike, 1 hour run, 3 times) 2 weeks ago my motivation level has definitely been waning, fortunately my training has been tapering off since then. I know I can complete each of the distances individually, I can swim 2.4 miles, I can bike 112 miles and I can run 26.2 miles…can I do them back-to-back, that remains to be seen. The one variable not under my control will be the conditions on the day, what will the sea be like, will there be a headwind on the bike, how will the temperature/humidity affect me…other than this I feel confident I can do it. The question is how long will it take?

The race starts at 7am Sunday 28th, if I’m really fast I might be finishing around 7pm (I’d love to do it in around 12 hours), more likely it’ll be closer to 9pm and the cutoff time is midnight. Last year the winner completed it in a little over 8 hours, so don’t think I’ll be in contention for any medals!

Thanks to all of your generosity I’ve raised nearly $6,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation that will help other challenged athletes, children, adults, service men & women, achieve their athletic dreams…a big thank you!

So wish me luck, send me your well wishes for next Sunday and I’ll keep everyone updated on the day via twitter.

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

Help me raise $10,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation

Starting a Startup (So You’ve got an Idea)

November 17, 2010 by keiron Leave a Comment

As a first time entrepreneur you face a daunting task when it comes to actually getting your new venture of the ground. You might have a great idea, but you know that it takes a whole lot more than that to be successful.

In those very formative times you need to be patient, idea gestation and team formation just take time, rush it and you’ll risk betting your future on a half-baked idea or a half-committed team. It’s hard to emphasize how important both of these aspects are for a startup, a great idea without a committed team will remain just a great idea. A great team with a half-baked idea, arguably may still be successful long term, but will waste a lot of time an energy and jeopardize their success by heading off in the wrong direction.

[contentheading]Kitchen Cabinet[/contentheading]

I give all credit for this process to Manish Chandra, my business partner and then CEO of Kaboodle. You see when Manish had the initial inspiration for Kaboodle back in early 2004 he didn’t just sit on it, after he kicked it around and bounced it off a few friends over a month or two he built enough internal belief in the idea that he decided to take it a step further and importantly took action. As a first time entrepreneur he decided the best way to vet the idea and begin to form a team was to pull together a dozen or so people over the ensuing months who were intrigued enough by the idea to meet each week for a few hours on a Saturday morning at his house, in what he called his ‘Kitchen Cabinet’.

[contentheading]Co-Creation[/contentheading]

While drinking chai tea on a Saturday morning, open discussions led to many viewpoints and insights being shared, the idea was vetted and refined so that it was no longer just Manish championing it. Going back to the 6 needs of a startup, Manish was addressing the first need, the need for co-creation.

[contentheading]Team Formation[/contentheading]

Different people came and went, not everyone turned up every Saturday, not everyone shared the same passion or interest in the idea, but as time evolved Manish was able to identify not just his potential co-founders (myself included), but also those who were willing to commit time and energy to get the venture moving, even if they couldn’t ultimately join fulltime.

Appropriate NDAs, IP assignment and advisor agreements protected the business and also ensured that should the venture have a successful outcome, which it did, those individuals that put-out at that early stage were rewarded for their energy.

[contentheading]Decision Making[/contentheading]

Finally, going back to the second need of a startup, it came down to Manish to have the courage and conviction that the idea was viable, the team was viable and ultimately to make the decision to start Kaboodle with myself and Chetan Pungalyia…and that’s when Kaboodle, or Chaboodle Labs as it was back then, became real.

It took over nine months from initial idea to the point when all three of us had quit our jobs and were committed full-time. From a dozen or more people who had been involved in the process it had been whittled down to three. So as you see, it takes time, but time well spent!

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