A Donkey with no Carrot is a Stationary Donkey

GOALS.  Important in every aspect of life.  Career. Family. Education. Athletics. If you don’t have specific goals you are working toward, then you are just meandering through life.

It’s my first year since 2007 that I am without a Fall marathon to gear up for.  No carrot.  I have been just going through the motions in my training, which has been minimal at best.  I am formally committing to a Half Marathon in October.  It is called Paine to Pain in New Rochelle, NY on October 3rd.

Setting goals is a skill.  Let me rephrase, setting effective goals is a skill.  Anyone can set a goal to run faster, but what is that?

There is an acronym for goal setting called SMART.  Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely.  Those words are fairly self explanitory, but I will expand a bit.

Ex.  I will be sub 1:30 in my half marathon on Oct. 3rd.

Specific?  Yes, time goal and a date for a race

Measurable?  Just need a stop watch 🙂

Attainable?  Hopefully.  My PR is 1:23 and I ran 1:25 last year, this IS a trail race, so it may slow me down a bit, but I didn’t want to set the bar too low.

Realistic?  (See Above)

Timely?  October 3rd is test day.

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

For deeper explanation see this site

I also find it valuable to have multiple goals, not just 1 huge goal.  And have some long term goals of 5 years and 10 years.

“People overestimate what they can achieve in a year, and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade”

-Tony Robbins

Make sure you give yourself time to “get there”

Write your goals down on paper.  Not just once.  Often.  Everyday if you can.  Not only will this exercise keep your goals in your conscious thoughts, but your subconscious will work on them too.

Break your goals down into bite size chunks.  For example.  If you have never run before and you are 50 lbs overweight and your goal is to run a marathon in 3 hours at the end of 12 months.  OK.  That is a grand undertaking, but it can be done.  The problem is, it looks so far away and may seem impossible.  Break it down.  Step 1, start a consistent work out plan.  Step 2, analyze diet and eat better food and control portions to start to lose weight.  Step 3, enter a local 5k and complete it, even if walking. Step 4, keep a running log and chart your progress, Step 5, Run with a spouse, friend, or club to keep it fresh and interesting.

There are an endless number of things you can focus on and accomplish on your road to a big goal.  Make sure you enjoy the road to your destination

To get new results you have to take new actions.  If you keep doing what you’re doing, you are going to keep getting what you’re getting.

Make a dream board.  In addition to writing your goals down, find pictures that portray your goals.

Good luck in your ventures and comment with any questions or stories 🙂