Sunday Sips

Hey Pretentious Engineer here...

I know you didn't ask but welcome to Sunday Sips where I carefully curate my latest insights on Engineering, Global Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Fitness, Japan Life and Fatherhood to provide you with deep reflections worth sipping on...

💡Finish - Ep #4

Sometimes you just need to show up and do the work... regardless of how you feel.

Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon ... -> My last Run in Japan ...-> for now...

Let's finish what we started...

Today's "Sunday Sip" is inspired by a close friend who's job referral was an encouragement to me:

"I would like to connect you to Joe Isosaki, someone I worked with closely while at JNJ. Joe’s story of innovation and resilience is quite amazing and complex and a incredible all at the same time."

Resilience is a word that I've been holding onto the past few weeks, as it's been spoken over me multiple times. If I'm honest I think I would prefer a life with a tad less resilience yet I seem to keep playing life on hard mode.

The last 4 weeks have been some of the most tumultuous I've ever experienced. So many challenging conversations with my wife and kids about whether we continue life in Japan or take the jump back to Chicago. Job hunting in Chicago medTech (Abbot, AbbVie, Baxter), packing out our house, finding international movers and telling our friends that we need help to pull off our 14th move in 3 years.

Amidst all that my half marathon training completely fell off... the farthest I made it was 10 miles and a half marathon is 13.1. I also hadn't done any strength or mobility work and I have a slightly injured knee as well as two compressed discs on my lower spine.

Yet this run was deeply meaningful to me.

A year ago I pulled together a dadBod 16-week half marathon training program to make long distance running accessible to individuals who are heavier-set, have pre-existing health conditions or prior sports injuries. I welcomed folks into the frenzy of my life as trained everyday as a 6' 3", 300lb dad in Japan.

This program culminated with me running the Tokyo Legacy half marathon as a trial run with a running club of 30 people... because I wasn't able to register for the real race.

Yesterday as I ran with 15,000 people I not only finished the half marathon, but I also closed out my first "half marathon of Japan Life". I spend 2:39:17 thinking about the journey I've been on as a father and global leader, the experiences I've had been blessed with, the joys of mountaintop views and the valleys of despair.

Running has always been a spiritual practice for me as well.

I used to have debilitating backpain because of two compressed disks in my L4 and L5. I would wake up ever other hour of the night unable to roll out of bed because of the pain. I was also getting Epidermal injections in my back every other week. It took years of physical therapy building out my core & back strength for me to run without pain.

But in those days, when I would finally roll out of bed, I would put on my shoes and run half a mile in excruciating pain (not the smartest choice). I'd then sit on a bench and wrestle with God in prayer, as I attempted to reconcile the seemingly needless pain in my life. I'd then run a half mile home and jump in to my day... doing the work regardless of how I felt... Resilience

Resilience is one of those traits that no one should ever pray for... its like praying for patience. The only way it arrives is through hardship and pain.

If I'm honest... I think I fell off the last four weeks of training because the hardship was too great for me to bear. There was nothing in me that wanted to wake up at 4:00am, go for a run... and wrestle with God. Yet I found a strange, cathartic comfort in slogging away at 13.1 miles yesterday.

It forced me to face the reality that life here in Japan is over. That its time for life in Chicago to begin. Even though I'm returning to my hometown, I had never imagined living there as an adult. In someways my messy exit from JNJ, 114 days of failed Tokyo entrepreneurship, and realization that we can't sustain life here has put us on a fast track to a new life in Chicago.

No friends, I share all this in transparency because life is full of hardship. And whatever your faith context, spirituality, or lack there of, there are days that shake us to our core.

I believe that everyone has a race marked out for them. To be a father. To be a Leaders. To be a Creative. To be a friend.

Whatever your race, may you finish it well.

While we may not ask for greater resilience, may we not shy away from adversity when it comes our way.

Keep pushing! Keep moving forward!

🧐Content Worth Sipping On

🧠 SKOOL | Quit Your Job?

Here's a great framework on how to decide if you should stay with your current employer.

Watch on YouTube

🏋️‍♂️ Let's Run 13.1 Miles in Japan

Here's the course I ran with the running club. A casual 3+ hour run.

Watch on YouTube

🤖 Our First 1on1 - New Here?

My engineering origin story, 12 moves in 1 year to get to Japan, and a big jump into SKOOL

Watch on YouTube

🧙‍♂️ aFamilyFrenzy Social -
The Pancake Princess

Check out some of the great work I'm doing with my clients to Connect Their Digital Societies.

100+ hours on this edit!

Watch on YouTube

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Today's post was inspired by a comment from a close friend who opened many doors for me during my international assignment in Japan.

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