14.12.2021
This weekend started beautifully. A friend and I went for a swim, hit the sauna, and then had a coffee date. As we sat enjoying our healthy start to the weekend we shared wins and losses from the week, along with ideas and insights from books we’ve each recently read. We’re both young business owners and having time like this together helps us each learn how to apply what we’ve learnt to our businesses.
My friend had been training for a marathon for a few months now and was set to run the next day. This directed our conversation towards goal setting and healthy habits. With the end of the year approaching I felt that this was a relevant topic to share in this post. I tried to capture some of the steps that had helped my friend become Marathon ready. Though everything I talk about here uses a marathon as a metaphor, I believe the principles are applicable to any goal.
A marathon falls perfectly into the concept of setting SMART goals. If you’re unfamiliar with SMART goals, SMART is an acronym for goals which are Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. A marathon Is SPECIFIC; a long-distance foot race. It’s MEASURABLE; a distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles 385 yards.) It’s ACHIEVABLE; people all over the world have ran marathons before, which is proof that it can be done. It’s RELEVANT; you may enjoy running already or perhaps could benefit from the impact regular running has on your health. It’s TIMELY; usually a marathon is a scheduled event which puts a clear timeline on the goal.
Running a marathon is a huge goal which can take a lot of work and training. Despite a marathon being an extremely long run, (at least for me to fathom) it also feels obtainable. There are countless examples of others who have ran marathons before you, which provides proof that it is an achievable goal.
Try to set yourself a goal that is big. Big enough to reward you with the satisfaction of overcoming the challenge it takes to achieve. This can help to keep you motivated towards your goal. Only you know your capabilities and limits, so set goals that are big, but that are also achievable.
Due to Covid restrictions the date of the Melbourne Marathon had moved a few times this year. My friend reflected on how the changing of the date had impacted his ability to stay motivated towards the goal. He shared a theory he recently read about, which explained how your goals should be broken into milestones that provide feedback within 90 days. Any more than 90 days creates a feedback loop that is too delayed. Which causes your ability maintain focus and motivation to suffer.
Creating 90 day milestones can help to stay on track towards a bigger goal, by providing a series of smaller bitesize goals. Which could help keep you focused and motivated. Plan your steps by first looking at where you a performing currently and then identify what work you will need to do to meet your goal.
My friend didn’t measure how far he was running but instead how long he was running for. This helped him focus on the action rather than the result. By running for an hour every day his performance improved naturally over time. He also explained that leaving the house to run for an hour was less intimidating that trying to run a set amount of kilometers.
Paying your attention to an action rather than a result, could help you take action and feel less daunted by your goal. It also tells you what need to do right now. What’s great is with more action taken you can pretty much guarantee you will increase your overall performance.
My friend was running every day. He even bought a standing desk, to help prepare him for the long time that he would need to be on his feet to complete the marathon. His daily commitment to running helped build his fitness to the level required for running the marathon.
Committing yourself to daily efforts can compound and build up your performance over time. If you’re just starting out working out your goal more often could help you build momentum. Focus on the quantity of your efforts more than the quality of your
Fortunately for him, my friend quite enjoyed his daily running. This changed his perspective of the goal. Rather than “I have to run” it became “I’m enjoying running, i’ll continue to run more.” If he had hated running it would have made it extremely difficult for him to continue practicing. Trying to run a marathon without practice is sure to result in failure.
Learning to enjoy the experience of working towards your goal will improve your likelihood of achieving the goal. Find a way to enjoy the work required to achieve your goal.
One sleep away from the big day my friend had spent $0 towards new running gear. I even caught him running in his bathers one time. He had managed to avoid investing unnecessary money on things he didn’t need. Running a marathon would have you tempted to get distracted by all the expensive equipment, tools and training available, that is designed to help you.
It’s easy to get distracted by things that feel like they’re helping such as What shoes do you need? What smart watch should you buy to track your running? What is the perfect time to go running? After all without some fresh kicks and an expensive watch, how would you know if your progressing? Your should try to avoid doing things that make you feel productive but don’t actually help get you closer to your goal. Identify the actions that are pushing you towards your goal. Focus your attention on the efforts that make the biggest impact and avoid anything that slows you down.
To build on the point above; if you begin running everyday to train for a marathon. It’ll quickly become clear where you are underperforming. Helping you identify where to invest time and money into help. The act of doing first will help you to understand what type of shoe you need to suit your running style, what smart watch would offer you the most useful information to keep you motivated, or what areas of your form need improve.
Once you start working towards your goal consistently, busy work and distractions that may have been slowing you down before may become easier. Wasting you a lot less time overall.
My friend had requested that I come and support him by watching him run across the finish line. Marathons take place with thousands of people watching and cheering you on for support.
Sharing your goal with other people especially those close to you it helps provide support. It also helps hold yourself accountable for achieving that goal. Great friends will support you and keep you motivated when you begin to stray.
Set your goals big enough to motivate you but ensure they’re realistically achievable. Set milestones that are achievable and keep you motivated. Focus on taking action rather than your output. Find ways to practice as often as possible. Learn to enjoy the process. Avoid distractions and stay focused on the most efficient tasks. Starting small and building up will help you save time and avoid over committing too early. Share your goal with people close to you so they can hold you accountable.