My learnings when I pushed myself beyond limits

“Sometimes, the best way to learn is to go beyond limits and set your own rules.” — Anonymous

Have you ever tried something where you pushed yourself beyond limits? Fortunately, my answer was also no till the last couple of weeks.

Recently, I have covered a distance of 300 km on a bicycle in a single night (most people called this insane). Right now, I also say this was an insane task.

But this activity taught me a significant relationship between goal and personal limits (emotional, mental, and physical).

I learned how to manage and handle self-limits to achieve any goal.

In this article, I like to share some critical lessons which I learned during the process.

But let me first tell you how things started!

On 5th March, my coach told me ‑ “First ride at least 30 km daily for 30 days with three major rides (100, 150, 200), then talk to me”.

This statement hit my ego, and on the next day (6th March), I announced in the group

Physically I was not prepared for 300 km, and my best was 160 km.

There were many challenges in this task, specifically with long rides

1. I can’t ride long distances during the daytime because of too high temperature
2. I have to ride solo on highways during the night along with trucks, tempos, and bus
3. Bicycle tyre could be punctured anywhere, and I wouldn’t get any convenience on highways at night

But the only solution was

1. Fuck off every fear and keep riding. Just be mindful while riding
2. Manage your mind, which keeps you moving. If the mind gets tired, the body will also get tired
3. Do or die. I prepared my mind for two answers, either I will hospitalize or complete it.

Finally I completed this 30 Days challenge, here are highlights.

And I have documented my journey here.

Lessons I learnt during the challenge

1. Fear only exists in your mind: Fear has no reality. Maybe I have some fear which perhaps not be for you. The more you think about fear, the more you feel it. So the best solution is just to shut up your mind and start doing it. You realize fear has gone.
2. Commitment makes your character strong: Once you have committed to something, you must do it. You get hundreds of reasons for not doing a thing, but one reason is sufficient to push you towards your commitment. Commitment is the thing that makes people trust you and the same thing makes you trust yourself.
3. “Why” is not always sufficient: If you are moving towards a big goal, you soon get hundreds of reasons for giving up. Then that time, your “why” may not answer all your excuses. You need to build more “whys” that push you towards your goal and fulfill your commitment.
4. Emotions are good driving fuel: Your physical and mental abilities have limitations. They can’t push you beyond your limits. After a limit, they keep telling you, “stop it, you get tired, you can’t do”, and “your body is paining”. But emotions work in another dimension; they drive you for satisfaction which gives you pleasure. Love and Anger are the two best emotions that can push you to extraordinary limits.
5. Emotions and motivation have their limits, too: During my 300 km ride, after 100 km distance, a point came where all my “whys”, emotions, and motivations got failed. I searched for these things, but I realized they have their limits and can’t push me more.
6. Be persistent with your efforts: “Keep doing what you are doing”, this is the only mantra I had learned that helped me complete 300 km. The more you believe in this mantra, the more energy, and satisfaction you get. Just shut up your mind and keep doing!

These are the lessons from my journey. I love to listen your experiences and lessons.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

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