What can happen when you push your limits

UPDATE: This post won a 2019 EXCEL award for individual blog post, and the blog won for overall blog as well. 

It was ridiculously difficult. Yet, my first Marathon des Sables in Morocco, a six-day 250-km (about 155-mile) ultramarathon in the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert, was one of the best experiences of my life, and it reaffirmed why I’m a life insurance agent.

Through the burning 35-degree Celsius (95-degree Fahrenheit) heat, I carried on my back my food, water, a sleeping bag and clothes. I left behind everything else.

Six years ago, I could never have pictured myself running around the block nonetheless in an ultramarathon through the Sahara. Back then, I didn’t spend time on health and fitness, and it showed. On my 34th birthday, I weighed 130 kilos, or about 287 pounds. My own life insurance company said I was morbidly obese.

Things had to change. I lost weight, and I became obsessive about working out, but I never thought of myself as a runner. Then a member at my gym told me he had run the Marathon des Sables. He described the hot, difficult journey. I couldn’t understand why anyone would run for six days in the desert.

When I got home, I complained to my wife about the absurd six-day race. Then I went into my office and registered for the ultramarathon. After that, there was no turning back. I wanted to put myself through something grueling, and this was it.

Grueling training and increased work productivity

As one can guess, the training schedule for an ultramarathon is demanding. And while training, the day-to-day responsibilities in my life didn’t go away. I still spent time with my wife and my two children, Leiah, age 7, and Luca, age 4; managed my office, and continued to qualify for MDRT’s Top of the Table. In fact, I had my best financial year yet. To do this, I had to work fewer hours than ever, get up earlier, be more efficient and delegate more.

Bedtime for me became 8:30 or 9 p.m. I got up at 4 a.m., worked by delegating tasks to my staff between 4:30 and 6:30 a.m., dropped the kids off at school and had two appointments with clients before 11:15 a.m. Then on alternate days, I ran for five hours in the hottest time of the day in Dubai where I live. I’d be done with my run by around 4:30 to 5 p.m., and then it was family time. On weekends, I would spend up to eight hours a day running in the desert.

I wanted to balance all of this with my work and my family time, making sure none of it was affected negatively by training.

MDRT member Rickson D’Souza at an ultramarathon

Disconnecting in the desert

After six months of training, I took my place for the 33rd Marathon des Sables in the Sahara with about 1,000 runners from around the world.

The race was surreal. For six days, I was disconnected from the world — there were no phone calls, no emails, no social media. It was the first time in 19 years I switched off completely for that long. The only contact we had outside of the race was at 7:30 p.m. when we received a daily print out of our messages.

All I had were six to 22 hours a day of running, and during that time my thoughts and emotions flowed uncontrollably. I thought about how honored I am to be there for my clients and their families. I feel like a hero knowing if something goes wrong for them, such as they get sick or pass away, their families still will live a life with dignity. I thought of my own family and how they would get on in my absence. I put to rest any thoughts of being “overinsured.”

I saw some of my self-imposed barriers in my life, which I could get past if I put my mind to it. I learned the value of patience in those long runs. I also thought about how life was like the race. Both have rules. Either you learn the rules or you reinvent the game. You break the rules, and you get penalized.

We all need time with ourselves. It’s important to get completely away from the notifications and screens and detach from our regular lives. Find out who you are and what matters to you. Learn about yourself and your values. Let the thoughts come to you.

Rickson D’Souza, of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has been an MDRT member since 2003 and is a Top of the Table qualifier.  He specializes in high-net-worth clients. See more from D’Souza in the video “Integrity matters: The value of putting clients first.” 


Note: Since this post first published in November 2018, D’Souza completed a second Marathon des Sables. He reached his goal of finishing in the top 50%. He plans more ultramarathons, including a 60-km (more than 37 miles) run across the Sollang Skyline in Himachal Pradesh, India. He’ll run his first half Ironman in January/February in Dubai and his first full Ironman in South Africa in March/April. Furthermore, his goal is to work only three days a week beginning January 1, 2020.


 

 

Comments
  • K Kannan says:

    Hi Rickson DSouza,

    Inspired and amazed from your real story.

    God bless you!.

  • Thank you Manmohan, I think attitude is a big part of the deal. Some of the best reference books I’ve read on similar subjects has to be
    GRIT by Angela Duckworth
    Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins
    The Magic of Big Thinking – David Schwartz
    Be Obsessed or Be Average – Grant Cardone

    Enjoy these books Manmohan. They are epic

  • Hi Vinie… I found that limiting yourself to a fewer hours a day makes you more efficient. When I think of a day with 8 hours and a week with 5 days then I know if I spend sometime on Facebook or Instagram or just taking it easy, I have a lot more time in the week to catch up. The same is true for the whole year. I found that limiting myself to fewer hours in a day and fewer days in a month and year allows for lesser time to be wasted doing little things. Alongside this I try and get 3 things that I HAVE TO do per day out of the way first. These tend to be those things that need my attention the most and will get me to my goals… Once I’m done with those, then I have the rest of the day for other lesser important things.
    Another insight for me was that I needed to be in front of my Ideal Client more often and that meant also saying NO or Limiting interactions with all other types of clients. I categorize clients into A,B,C & D and for instance this year I have allowed myself to be open to landing only 2 C clients, 2 B clients and the rest have to be A category clients. I have not allowed myself to land any D category clients. If I get referred to them I simply pass them on to other advisors more suited to working with them.

  • Manmohan says:

    What an inspiration. Your attitude speaks volumes of a person’s determination.Congratulations Rickson.

  • Vinie yap Yen Hong says:

    Very inspired me how can he balance his life with work , family and running ..
    Very Displine and what are the client and product he work on can be done TOT .. I work 10 hours day still cannot fast behind TOt this year .. hope can get advise from Him

Verified by ExactMetrics