This series has gone to some length about creating a goal for you to accomplish. I have talked about creating only one goal because if you start to create too many goals, then you can start to feel overwhelmed and not accomplish anything if burnout happens.
As you know I have create one goal of being able to complete a marathon. That is my one goal. It is a huge goal that is going to take me upwards of 5 months to achieve. I have not lost focus yet, but one thing I think is very important when we go through our journey of accomplishing our goal is to create little mini goals or milestones to help us along the way. These are little checkpoints that keep the focus and motivation going and help us from not burning out or losing sight of our journey.
I have created several checkpoints on my journey to completing my marathon. I like to think of these checkpoints as gas stations. My journey has me on a road trip powered by my feet. along the way I need to stop, get out, stretch, refuel, and just get my mind and body right for the next leg of the journey. My first checkpoint/gas station is this Saturday.
Saturday is the Moonlight Chase. This is very flat four mile course that I have mentioned on this blog several times even going back and reposting my blog entry from last year as this was my first official running race ever.
I have set out on a goal to run this in under 27 minutes. That is my goal. I would be lying to you if I told you I am not nervous already for this race. I know I should not be as it is a short run and I have been doing great training wise. There is always that fear in the back of your mind about not accomplishing your goals that you set out for yourself. That is why some people don’t set goals because they fear not succeeding. However, I have told myself that I have been doing everything to prepare my body. I am still very sore from my long 16 mile run on Monday. I need to get out today and run a short 3 mile run to knock out the fatigue. I need to get some bike rides in to knock out a pound or two from eating poorly the last couple days with family and friends.
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| My Post-It note goal and reminder! |
I have been using my Post-It note strategy of writing reminders and goals and placing them in a place where I view them all the time. I have 3 of these posted to my computer monitor. I know what I need to do. I see it every single day. I can do this.
I have also added a note from Jeff Paul. It is little things like this that help propel people. One thing that I am going to set out and do more this upcoming school year is to write little notes to students. Not generic sayings, but ones that apply to the student. I think about how powerful the written word can be and I don’t know why I don’t do this more with more people. When school starts up this is going to be something I do more of with students, staff, family, and friends.
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| A very important source of inspiration to me. |
This first checkpoint is three days away. I have runs planned for each day leading up to Saturday. I will have my body and mind ready. I will knock out this goal. I am going to GET IT DONE!
What I recommend for you to do is to create a plan with checkpoints to give yourself little tests. These little steps up the ladder can do wonders for achieving your goal. In a future post I will share with you how I went about creating and setting up these checkpoints.
Until next time, think about your goal, think about checkpoints, maybe write up a new Post-It, and continue to GET IT DONE!
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