Working harder

Ian Campbell
November 07, 2024

Working harder

On most mornings I wake up and go for a run. It typically feels uncomfortable, so when I finish I feel like I’ve worked hard. Last weekend I finished a run and saw a recap of the NYC Marathon (Letty did a great job!) that highlighted how Abdi Nageeye had won with a time of 2 hours and 7 minutes (a 4:53 minute/mile pace). While I felt like I had worked hard, Abdi had run farther and faster.

It made me think that when I feel like I am working hard (in running and in life), I often learn something that makes me feel like I should work even harder. For an example, lets rewind to a story from when I was starting my career in investment banking.

Ian outside his San Francisco office in 2016

During my first year, we had a meeting in Washington DC. It was an important meeting, so I had worked 80-100 hour weeks leading up to it to prepare our presentation. By the time I was flying from San Francisco to Washington DC, I was tired enough that I fell asleep on my keyboard.

At our hotel the night before the meeting, our 4-person team met for dinner to review speaking parts during the presentation. We talked through the presentation for 3-4 hours then agreed to meet for breakfast the next day for a final review before showtime. I was the most junior, so my only speaking part was to answer questions about the charts and graphs. Still, I wanted to speak confidently so after our team meeting, I spent several hours alone in my hotel room anticipating questions and practicing my responses. I had worked long hours in preparation, flown across the country and stayed up late preparing with our team then by myself. I felt like I was working hard.

The next morning, as our team reviewed our presentation at breakfast, I noticed that my boss had written paragraphs of notes on every single page of the 80 page presentation. Alarm bells began ringing in my head. While I thought that preparing my responses to questions about charts was hard work, my boss had thoughtfully crafted a script for all 80 slides that we would be presenting.

Now, when I feel like I'm working hard, I remind myself of this story and remember that there is another level that is possible.

You may be thinking, “Ian cool story, but what does this have to do with organizing a community race?”

Well, this past week we had an election that seemed to divide the US into red states and blue states. In September, I wrote that regardless of who wins, I hope our country can unite following the election, since unity is important for any nation to be successful.

I believe that races are a great way to bring people together and keep our communities united. With how people on both sides are currently feeling, I believe growing community races will help create a better future.

How do we grow community races? By working harder. At least, that is what I plan to do.

— Ian