Featured Talk: Steve Sisson: Run toward your goals

The phrase “it’s a marathon not a sprint” applies to creativity as much as anything else. So CreativeMornings/Austin got motivated with running coach Steve Sisson.

Speaking on the theme of Rebel, Steve gave a rousing talk on how to achieve your goals by tapping into your inner rebel. He stressed that it’s not enough to rebel against something; you have to be going toward something. You must have a purpose. As he put it, “Be clear on your purpose. What the hell are you doing? And why are you doing it?”

Judging by the sketch notes people shared, it’s clear his challenge resonated.

Notes by Sam Kapila.

Steve argued that to be a rebel, you have to hold yourself to a higher standard. Because you’re forging a trail others will follow. So you have to honest and you have to be truly yourself. Because, he said, “We don’t need another piece of art that looks like somebody else’s piece of art.”

But Steve didn’t just say that we’re all beautiful snowflakes.

Notes by Tim Bauer.

He hammered the fact that it takes hard work to be exceptional. Competition pushes us. Failure teaches us. And community supports us.

The last thing Steve tells his athletes before a marathon is “to run a beautiful race. Not an effective race. Not a timely race. But a beautiful race.”

However the thing he tells his athletes most often is to do the work and don’t let anything stop you. It’s his mantra, “just fucking run.”

Watch his talk and start running towards your goals.

Love sketch notes? Get inspired by more sketchnotes from CreativeMornings chaptersaround the globe.

^{Written by Brian Thompson; he’s a freelance copywriter and also helps organize our Austin chapter.}