Know Your Measure

Upfront I will say this is a little self indulgent but so be it.

If I’m asked what I do, I would have to say I spend a good deal of the time trying to “know myself” — something that has resonated since I read about the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in ancient Greece and how “Know thyself” was one of three sayings etched in stone near the entrance. 2500 years is a very long time, and with the passage of time and modern perspectives, we will never really know how accurate this is. Did the ancient greek characters chiselled into the stone say “Know Thyself” or “Know Yourself” or even something like “Know Your Measure” ? We will never truly know, but nevertheless, it’s a noble pursuit.

Of late, I lean toward the words Know your Measure — so much so that I have added it to my tattoo collection along with “Light and Love” which I should also add are two noble pursuits. What we may never know was it self-help advice or a warning — before you enter this temple, you better know how you measure up because you will be tested (or something to that effect).

The other day I was out with friends on some country roads training for an upcoming 65 km ride. We were spread out with me bringing up the rear, and as I passed an entrance to my left, I noticed two farm dogs sprinting down the lane in pursuit. Recognizing that they would easily catch me at my current speed, I screamed we had dogs on our tail and started to sprint with an accompanying surge of adrenaline; the race was on. My only goal in that moment was to stay ahead of them until they either tired or got bored with the chase — and with a final roar of warning and defiance they finally came to a stop and watched me and the rider I caught up to ride away. On this particular day, I measured up.

I’ve been riding for a long time and know that with a reasonable head start I can out pace a dog until it gets tired, but I also know that under slightly different circumstances or a little bad luck, the whole situation may have ended much differently — as they say in the business though, it turned out to be a good day. In the end, all we can do is understand our current circumstances and potential circumstances, critically understand our current measure, and develop our strengths and minimize our weaknesses to deal with them — and most importantly, understand when you don’t measure up so you can go off and better prepare for another day.

My general philosophy is be as smart, knowledgeable and as strong as possible because one day you will be faced with something you have never seen before and you will need everything at your disposal to meet the measure.

And with a little luck, you probably will.

iamgpe