Clair Heaviside on LinkedIn: 2019: Anya Culling ran the London Marathon (her first-ever marathon!) with… | 289 comments (2024)

Someone said the magic words to me.“What can I do to make this week easier for you?”It was on the same day that my ops team noticed I was overwhelmed, without me saying a word.They just moved some meetings around, got work out of my way, and gave me the space to do what I needed to do, no questions needed.Those two things stopped me in my tracks.It’s well-known that founders are pretty bad at asking for help.We’re constantly spinning a lot of plates and making sure everyone else is okay.But taking help when it was offered meant I was able to deliver for the business, our clients and the team 10x better than I’d have been able to if I’d just kept battling through it on my own.It’s a strength to be able to say, ‘Maybe I do have too much going on right now and this isn’t the best use of my time. Who’s the best person to take this from me?’Sometimes the heroic thing to do is to just stop.

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New week! New me! Let’s go! ☝️if you’re not really feeling this, then maybe you need a bit of inspiration.For agencies, driving growth is an uphill battle, and sometimes a bit of insight and direction from fellow founders can really help.That's why I’m excited to be hosting an AGENCYNOMICS event on Thursday, aimed specifically at giving you tools that can be implemented in your agency today, to make an impact.We have an awesome line-up of speakers, and beyond hosting I’m already looking forward to taking action when I get back to Serotonin…If you’d like more details or to get yourself a ticket, I’ll leave a link in the comments.(Pic from the Agencynomics Big Event last year to demonstrate the good vibes you can expect if you come along 😜 !)

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If Instagram went down tomorrow and you couldn’t post your workout, would you still go to the gym? If LinkedIn went down tomorrow and you couldn’t write about your 5am morning routine, would you still set that alarm? If Strava went down tomorrow and you couldn’t share your stats, would you still go for the run?What legitimises your character isn’t what you share with the world, it’s what you do when nobody’s watching. We’ve forgotten to celebrate what happens in the dark, because we live in a time where validation is everything.And that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be proud of what we achieve, or feel we can’t share it.We just need to remember that our true character is defined by the actions we take when nobody else can see them.What you do in the dark puts you in the light. Shout out to Under Armour for this epic ad from 2017’s Rule Yourself campaign with Michael Phelps. Says it all.

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Two very different sets of Strava stats, but here’s why I relate hard to the Hardest Geezer.He got up every day and did what he said he would.Russ Cook aka The Hardest Geezer just became the first ever person to run the entire length of Africa, an absolutely mad achievement.Sometimes it seemed like an impossible mission, but he just kept going. He didn’t give himself a choice, he didn’t allow himself an excuse.You don’t have to get up and run a marathon a day to prove anything to yourself.But I find the process of building proof through consistency extremely powerful.It impacts everything I do, and the person I am.And really, the size of the goal is irrelevant, it’s the discipline that it takes to be consistently reliable with your intentions that makes the difference.The amount of resilience you build when you do what you said you would, is powerful.It’s something you carry with you in every aspect of life.Well done Russ, making history on this scale is a mega achievement.This is what true inspiration looks like.

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Not many people know that I spent eight years in prison before I started Serotonin.*working in prison. (Sorry unashamed LinkedIn clickbait for ya).In 2004 I founded Odd Arts alongside Rebecca Friel MBE and Hannah Russell. The organisation, now a charity, just celebrated 20 years of dedicated and transformative work.When my career moved from arts to agency I struggled to join the dots.How did I get from there to here? Was it a path that made sense?But prison taught me a lot. About people and, weirdly, about marketing.It’s life under a microscope, so you learn fast.Prison taught me that my motivations don’t matter. What you want to happen is irrelevant compared to what someone else wants to do (so start with that instead).Prison taught me that human beings are extremely complex, that we all respond to pressure in different ways. That if you want to really know someone, you need to put your assumptions to one side.Prison taught me that, no matter how much you want other people’s behaviours to be predictable, they are not. Prepare to be surprised, it’s about the only thing you can plan for.Some pretty solid lessons in strategy right there.

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348 days16,000 km380 marathons£427,488 raised for charity90,000 average steps a day Russ Cook aka ‘Hardest Geezer’ is less than 4 days away from being the first person ever to run the full length of Africa. Through deserts, rainforests, savannahs, mountains, and jungles with immense temperatures, he has run the full length of the continent. It’s madness, really. To run on average a marathon a day for almost a year takes a strength like no other. Physical strength, yes, but an even greater mental strength to wake up and choose the hard thing day in, day out. The support his efforts have garnered online and the doors that will open for him upon his return will appear glamorous. His efforts have been the opposite.In the dark hours, Russ has faced immense physical, mental and even political challenges. He’s suffered food poisoning, struggled to gain visas, been robbed at gunpoint and even kidnapped.I’m very much looking forward to the first podcast episode Russ will do when he lands back in the UK. What a story he’ll have to tell.**EDIT: Fundraising link here: Let's get him to £1M! https://lnkd.in/e565jpFB

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A few weeks ago I posted about my commute.And it kind of blew up. Not just on Linkedin, in real life too (where things actually matter).Lots of people were interested in the fact that I run to work.That I bring my suitcase of clothes to the office on a Monday, and then get to the office for the rest of the week on my own two legs.There was a lot of “you’re crazy!” And I would probably agree with that, to some extent.But my crazy mindset is actually really logical, rational, and disciplined.It’s not glamorous. It’s just getting up, like a robot, and choosing to do the hard thing.(The hard thing isn’t the running, the hard thing is the decision).But once it’s done, I’ve taught myself a lesson for the rest of the day.Doing the hard work matters. Success can’t be manifested.You just decide to get up and go for it, and keep deciding that every single day.

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This was a really fun event to be a part of, plus I got to sit on a roster alongside the likes of:Jonathan Leafe Stephen KenwrightJane EntwistleChris SimmanceRobert Da Costa 🟣 Ben PotterRory SpenceFelix VelardeLaura WestAnd more!Have a watch, have a read, and then check out the other talks. Trust me, this is an absolute goldmine of agency experience and expertise. 🧠#agencylife #agencygrowth #softskills #leadershipskills

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This is what the world’s toughest race looks like, The Barkley Marathons: The ultramarathon consists of 100 miles and 60 hours of intense discipline and determination. Only 35 people are allowed to compete, and potential entrants must complete an essay on “Why I Should be Allowed to Run in The Barkley.”Only to receive an email of condolence from the organisers:“It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that your name has been selected for the Barkley Marathons…it is anticipated that this enterprise will amount to nothing more than an extended period of unspeakable suffering, at the end of which you will ultimately find only failure and humiliation.”Only 20 people in the world have ever finished it.It costs $1.60 to enter, and entrants must also bring an additional fee, such as a sock, a car registration plate, a white shirt, a packet of fa*gs…Competitors find between 9 and 14 books along the course and remove a page as proof of completion. There’s no official start time, runners wait until Laz lights a cigarette at some point in a 12 hour period.And really, that’s just the start of the madness…On Friday, Jasmin Paris became the first woman ever to finish The Barkley Marathons. She reached the iconic yellow gate after 5 loops of the course in 59 hours and 58 minutes, just 99 seconds from the 60-hour cut-off. She left it all out there and made history in front of us.If brute determination, passion and dedication inspire you - you’re looking at it.📸@howiesternphoto

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