AS you may have caught in last week’s column, we had the second Reignite Challenge Day on Saturday past. I’m chalking it down as a massive success. Twelve men, four teams of three. Four blocks of eight minutes of hellish work, and huge sense of achievement at the end of the session.

Achievement combined with being absolutely buckled. Every man to a man finished the day on their back, with nothing left in the tank other than the feel-good vibes of getting through what was an incredibly challenging session.

As we all slowly pieced ourselves back together we touched on a range of different topics, so I’m going to give you Part One of a list of thoughts and ideas that arose from not only that but some of the conversations I’ve had with retired athletes over the last year.

Hopefully, some of them make you pause for thought and either nod in agreement or take stock of how you’re approaching some of the things in your life.

1) Children are only as active as they see their parents being.

2) If you want to do something fast, do it alone, if you want to go far, do it with someone.

3) Always hold on to some element of your childishness. We grow up too fast, act too seriously and limit the craic we could have if we just allowed ourselves to be a little sillier.

4) Be a lion, not a cow. Work with full intentionality behind your actions in shorter blocks then rest and reset as opposed to tipping along all day and just getting by.

5) You can learn something from everyone you meet, good or bad. EVERYONE is a role model. It’s just that some of them are to show you what NOT to do.

6) You’ll train forever if you can find a form of exercise you love.

7) Avoid falling into the ‘hustle 24/7’ trap. You don’t always need to be busy.

8) You can’t out-train a bad diet. If you’re consistently training hard and not seeing the results you’re after there’s a fair chance all roads are leading towards your diet needing a change.

9) You don’t always need to be contactable. Create boundaries. And be clear on what they are.

10) Your back is probably sore because you sit on your arse so much. If you’ve backpain do an audit on how many hours per day you’re sitting down and try and do something about reducing it.

11) When you’re with people you value, make sure you don’t have any reasons to check your phone. By checking your phone, consciously or not, you’re showing them you don’t value the time with them.

12) Deadlines drive decisions. Parkinson’s Law dictates that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

So give yourself an ambitious deadline to complete any given task and you’ll get there a lot quicker than you would otherwise.

13) From time to time do things that make you uncomfortable.

14) In a time of overwhelm and overload of information, when you feel that you need a change, instead of adding more on to your plate look at what you can take off it.

Less junk food. Less alcohol. Less screen time.

15) Be aware of the thoughts that are top of your head.

Where does your brain take you when you’re in the shower or driving alone?

Those ideas need exploring. If it aligns with your personal or professional goals, deadly, if not then you need to work out why it’s distracting you so much.

What thought caught you the most?

Keep out an eye for part two next week!