Play “Eye of the Tiger!”

Training for the Chicago Half Marathon while running in the Washington, D.C. area has created a familiar weekend ritual: long runs, mounting fatigue, and the ongoing search for distractions that make double-digit mileage feel slightly less absurd.

For the first several miles, podcasts have become my preferred companion. They make the time move faster and help shift focus away from the physical discomfort, sore legs, and the constant mental math of how far remains.  It is a great cheat code.   Until it ends.  That is when things tend to unravel.

The final stretch of a long run is rarely elegant. Sweat clouds vision. Hands are slippery. Breathing becomes heavier. Fine motor skills somehow disappear. Yet this always seems to be the exact moment when my search begins for the perfect song to close out the run.

And somehow, this simple decision becomes wildly overcomplicated.

Doom scrolling through playlists begins.  Too slow.  Too mellow.  Too repetitive.  Wrong mood.

The search continues while valuable minutes disappear. During one run, I wasted nearly fifteen minutes searching for the perfect final song. Finally, in complete frustration, I panicked and went with the most cliché motivational song of all time:

“Eye of the Tiger.”

Yes, that song.  The anthem from Rocky III.  The song that has probably inspired countless questionable gym montages.  And yet…it worked immediately.

The opening guitar riff hit, energy returned, and suddenly the final miles felt manageable again. Then came the unexpected bonus.

My music algorithm followed with a cascade of bangers that somehow felt perfectly designed for exhausted runners. (If you can’t get FIRED UP listening to “Surrender” by Cheap Trick, you simply CAN’T get fired up!)

I was wildly overthinking.  I was trying to find the perfect song when I just needed to get back to a steady state and keep moving forward until the momentum kicked in.

And isn’t that true of all of us in our work and personal lives?

Lean on the Familiar

This tendency shows up constantly in professional settings.

A salesperson loses several major deals and begins questioning every part of their process. New scripts are created. New outreach strategies are tested. Entire pipelines are rebuilt. Meanwhile, the fastest path back to confidence may be reconnecting with long-standing clients and trusted relationships that historically produced results.

An entrepreneur sees their company facing serious pressure and begins chasing multiple new strategies at once—new products, new partnerships, new investors, new messaging. Sometimes the better move is far simpler: focus entirely on the original customer who believed in the business and deliver such an exceptional experience that momentum begins rebuilding from there.

A manager leading through uncertainty may feel pressure to launch sweeping organizational changes. Yet employees are often craving something much simpler: consistency, communication, and stability.  Don’t be afraid to lean on what has worked in the past!

In difficult times, fundamentals tend to outperform complexity.  We need to get back to the familiar and stop overthinking.  That will fuel the soundtrack for our next glorious chapter!

Make It Personal

The same pattern often appears in personal life.

When life feels uncertain, painful, or overwhelming, there is a temptation to seek dramatic solutions.  A major life change or move.  A complete reinvention. A revolutionary decision that promises immediate relief.  There are times that call for this type of radical change.  But resilience frequently looks far less dramatic.

Sometimes it means calling a close friend who has always provided honest perspective. Sometimes it means spending time with a parent who offers comfort and steadiness. Sometimes it means reconnecting with a sibling, mentor, spouse, or trusted confidant who brings calm in chaotic moments.

These relationships may not solve every problem overnight. But they create stability. They provide clarity. And often, they help restore the confidence needed for us to break through any wall that stands in our way!

Keep It Simple

There is a tendency to believe that breakthroughs must come from something new, innovative, or complicated.  Sometimes the smartest move is returning to what has already proven effective.  In difficult moments, the goal is not reinvention—it is reconnection with a personal superpower. Everyone has one.

The strongest path forward is often doubling down on the very thing that created success, confidence, and momentum in the first place. When uncertainty rises, we need to get back to what has always made the difference. That familiar strength may be exactly what kick- starts us back into action.

Sometimes we just need to steady the ship long enough to find the next gear.

Go back to what works.  Stop overthinking. Trust the fundamentals.  Tap into your superpower.

And when all else fails?

Play “Eye of the Tiger” and race like hell toward that finish line!