The last time I can really remember being surprised by myself was during a run a few weeks ago. I had completed a marathon in mid-November and was starting to get back into a regular running routine (needed recovery + holiday time, you know?).

My wife was with me and as we approached the last hill before our place, I told her I was going to sprint up it just to see how my legs felt.

Surprise – I flew.

Faster than I maybe ever have.

And it felt awesome.

I waited for her at the top and the first thing she said was, “You just flew up that hill…” with a bit of surprise in her voice. Neither of us understood why.

For me, it was kind of nice to know that the time I took off hadn’t caused me to regress. But it also caught me off guard that all of the long, steady runs during marathon training may have had unintended effects on my short sprinting abilities. (Disclaimer: I’m not a sports scientist by any means, so there may very well be studies out there showing that’s 100% impossible. I just know I was surprised by it.)

When I think about applying that unintended “result” to my everyday life, though, I can’t help but think that as I’m concentrating on and working regularly in one area, it may be subconsciously strengthening another area. Meaning, the hard work I’m doing for “project A” will eventually trickle into a future project when I least expect it.

Ultimately, I would hope that’s how it supposed to be; every activity we do and challenge we complete becomes a building block to make us bigger and stronger. Otherwise, I may need to reevaluate what I’m doing to better use my time.