Written by: March 22, 2026
3 strategies to keep going when it gets hard:
Principle-First
At mile 9, I wanted to quit.
I never considered myself a runner. For years, the sport felt like legalized torture. People who “loved running” seemed like a different species.
Yesterday I ran my first-ever half-marathon—13.1 miles through a hilly course in Asheville, NC. I’d been training for a few months, and my goal was simple: run the entire time without walking.
I almost didn’t.
There were several moments I wanted to walk, especially on the climbs. Thankfully, I had a few mental strategies that kept my legs moving. I finished in 1:57:45, without stopping once.
One thing I’ll say upfront: you can’t mentally hack your way through 13 miles without putting in the training first. But once you have the fitness, running for distance is largely a mental game.
Today, I’ll share what worked for me and how it applies well beyond the race course.
SUPERHUMAN SCORING
In every edition of System Sunday, I assess the featured system across three superhuman dimensions: impact, setup, and maintenance.
Unlike your typical review, I focus on factors that influence personal growth. Get to know the evaluation system.
Impact (9.5/10)
Need to make a sales call when you’re running on empty? Study one more chapter before your exam? Stay sharp at work after a night up with a sick kid?
This is a toolkit for the moments when quitting is tempting, and your most important goals are on the line.
The underlying skill here is mental endurance: the ability to keep going when your brain starts lobbying hard for the exit.
The 40% Rule puts a number on it. Former Navy SEAL David Goggins popularized the idea that when your mind says you’re done, you’ve only used about 40% of your actual capacity.
The other 60% is still there; it just requires the right strategies to access it.
Setup (8.0/10)
Add these to your mental endurance toolkit:
1. Chunking
Paula Radcliffe is one of the greatest distance runners in history. She had an edge: She mentally broke the race into bite-sized sections, counting her steps in groups of 100, roughly three times per mile.
Instead of facing 26.2 miles, she faced only 100 more steps. Then another 100. Then another. Chunk by chunk, she turned a grueling marathon into a rhythm she could follow.
Chunking works because the brain struggles with enormous tasks. It does just fine with small ones.
I used the counting method on the course yesterday, but I also leaned on a related strategy: landmarks.
Pick something in the distance—a mailbox, a stop sign, a bend in the road—run to it, then pick the next one. You’re never running 13 miles. You’re running to the next mailbox.
The simplest version of chunking is the “One More Rule”: just do one more. One more rep. One more page. One more sales call. One more hour.
Stack enough “one mores,” and you’ve covered serious ground without ever feeling the full weight of it.
2. Gamification
Rewards make hard things easier.
For me yesterday, that meant energy gels at miles 4 and 8. When things got hard around mile 3 or 7, I had a sweet reward waiting just a mile away. Very simple, very effective.
Finish your hardest task of the day, then take a walk or grab your favorite coffee. Hit a major career milestone, buy the watch you’ve been eyeing.
The reward doesn’t have to be elaborate. It just has to be earned.
3. Reframing
Reframing is the story you tell yourself when things get hard.
Around mile 9, my legs were cooked, and the hills had started to feel personal. One phrase kept me moving.
“This is where other people stop.”
It reframes suffering as a competitive advantage rather than a reason to quit.
A few others that held up well for me on the course:
- “This is what hard feels like.” (Normalizes the experience instead of catastrophizing it.)
- “Pain is just a passenger. I’m the driver.” (Separates you from the discomfort.)
Find a phrase or two that resonates with you. Test them during a workout or a stressful afternoon. The ones that stick will surprise you.
Maintenance (8.5/10)
One important distinction: pain and injury are not the same thing.
Pain is the burn of lactic acid climbing a hill. Injury is a pulled hamstring. One is worth pushing through. The other isn’t. Learning to tell the difference is crucial.
Push hard, recover well. That’s the formula for sustainable growth.
BRINGING IT HOME
My biggest takeaway from the weekend: we are far more capable than we think.
The limits we feel during hard things are usually not the actual limits. They’re the brain doing its job: conserving energy and suggesting an easier path. That voice is not the truth.
Chunk it down. Give yourself something to run toward. Change the story you’re telling yourself. Then keep going.
Rooting for you.
All systems go,
