{"id":12417,"date":"2026-05-07T20:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=12417"},"modified":"2026-05-07T20:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:31:34","slug":"this-founder-followed-one-rule-to-become-an-elite-triathlete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=12417","title":{"rendered":"This Founder Followed One Rule to Become an Elite Triathlete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"tw:border-b tw:border-slate-200 tw:pb-4\">\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:text-2xl tw:font-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-normal tw:font-serif tw:text-base tw:marker:text-slate-400\">\n<li>Rideout believes most people fail because they \u201cnegotiate\u201d with themselves instead of acting.<\/li>\n<li>He says taking the easy road early cost him opportunities, including the chance to pursue an MBA.<\/li>\n<li>After quitting an Ironman race, he vowed never to quit again, no matter the conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Most authors would take a victory lap when their book becomes a national bestseller. Not Ken Rideout.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would have been happier if it made the New York Times list,\u201d he says of his new memoir, <em>Everything You Want Is On the Other Side of Hard<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For Rideout, winning isn\u2019t enough. The real test is how close you get to the standard you set for yourself, and how quickly you raise it again. <\/p>\n<p>Rideout is an elite endurance athlete, entrepreneur and former Wall Street trader. He is also one of the fastest marathoners in the world over 50 and a recovering opioid addict who spent years battling dependency before getting sober in 2010. He appeared recently on the <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5BN2k9dQCvqWgvui9gnuxB\" id=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5BN2k9dQCvqWgvui9gnuxB\">One Day with Jon Bier <\/a>podcast to talk about discipline, dealing with pain and why most people fall short of their goals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: How to Leave Your Legacy, Help Others and Raise Your Authority<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-stop-negotiating-with-yourself\"><strong>Stop negotiating with yourself<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Rideout doesn\u2019t spend much time deciding whether he feels like doing something. For him, that\u2019s where most people lose the daily battle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as you stop negotiating with yourself, it\u2019s amazing what you can accomplish,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m just doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He sees that internal debate as the real obstacle. The moment you start weighing whether to act, whether it\u2019s getting up early, making a call or pushing through a tough stretch, you\u2019ve already created an exit ramp.<\/p>\n<p>Rideout\u2019s approach is to remove that option entirely. If something needs to get done, he does it. \u201cYou get up and you handle your damn business,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: A 4-Step Guide to Overcoming Obstacles<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-pay-now-or-pay-later\"><strong>Pay now or pay later<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Rideout came to this mindset by watching what happens when you don\u2019t put in the work early.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish I had studied,\u201d he says. \u201cI wish I had the option to go get my MBA at Harvard or Yale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, he took what he describes as the easy road through the first half of his life not putting the hard work in academically. That choice didn\u2019t feel costly at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut by not studying and always taking the easy road, I eliminated the potential to be able to do those things,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>That pattern stuck. It showed up in other parts of his life, from career decisions to habits that followed him for years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe easy road never pays well,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Now he treats effort like a bill that always comes due.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-he-taught-himself-how-to-be-tough\"><strong>He taught himself how to be tough<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Rideout wasn\u2019t always wired this way. He describes himself as \u201cvery timid as a kid.\u201d But that changed when he walked into the Somerville Boxing Club. At first, he hated every second of it. He had no natural inclination towards boxing. No hidden left hook. Just a recognition that avoiding fear wasn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said I\u2019d rather get in the ring in a controlled setting and learn how to do this than get into a scrap in the street and be completely a fish out of water,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>That experience became a template because it showed him something he hadn\u2019t believed before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can teach yourself how to be tough,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The feeling never went away. He still didn\u2019t want to step into the ring. The difference was that he stopped treating that feeling as a reason to back off.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: 5 Tips for Challenging Yourself to Perform Outside of Your Comfort Zone<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-quitting-once-was-enough\"><strong>Quitting once was enough<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s one moment he hasn\u2019t let go of. At the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, Rideout dropped out mid-race.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was a mistake he still regrets. \u201cThe sting of quitting never leaves you,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>That decision hardened into something he carried forward. Two years later, he came back under worse conditions. He had pneumonia leading into the race and knew early on he was in trouble. This time he says, \u201cI was going to drop dead before I quit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He walked, ran and pushed his way through the course, eventually finishing after more than eleven hours. It wasn\u2019t his best performance. But this time, he finished.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-his-next-race\"><strong>His next race<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>At 55, Rideout has no plans to slow down. He\u2019s encouraged by the early success of his book and is fielding interest from film producers. His main focus now is his talent agency, Rideout Sports and Entertainment, where he works with doctors, scientists and health and wellness leaders (disclaimer: I am a partner in the company). With no races currently scheduled, he admits he can feel a bit unmoored without something like a 155-mile ultramarathon to focus on.<\/p>\n<p>But his approach hasn\u2019t changed. \u201cIt\u2019s never a negotiation with yourself,\u201d he says. \u201cYou get up and you handle your damn business.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"tw:border-b tw:border-slate-200 tw:pb-4\">\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:text-2xl tw:font-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-normal tw:font-serif tw:text-base tw:marker:text-slate-400\">\n<li>Rideout believes most people fail because they \u201cnegotiate\u201d with themselves instead of acting.<\/li>\n<li>He says taking the easy road early cost him opportunities, including the chance to pursue an MBA.<\/li>\n<li>After quitting an Ironman race, he vowed never to quit again, no matter the conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Most authors would take a victory lap when their book becomes a national bestseller. Not Ken Rideout.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would have been happier if it made the New York Times list,\u201d he says of his new memoir, <em>Everything You Want Is On the Other Side of Hard<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For Rideout, winning isn\u2019t enough. The real test is how close you get to the standard you set for yourself, and how quickly you raise it again. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/entrepreneurs\/how-this-founder-became-fastest-marathoners-in-the-world\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Rideout believes most people fail because they \u201cnegotiate\u201d with themselves instead of acting. He says taking the easy road early cost him opportunities, including the chance to pursue an MBA. After quitting an Ironman race, he vowed never to quit again, no matter the conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-brands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}