Training advice for the Fit Pros

and just as easy not to…..

If you have ever set yourself a goal then you have more than likely failed to reach the goal on several occasions. It seems easy at the beginning when you set the goals because you feel a stream of motivation and energy to pursue these noble deeds. Why not after all because you are capable of thinking them surely you are capable of being able to do them each and every day. This is where most people are great because they set goals which are absurdly high and they aim for the stars. Sounds like how most goal setting should be because if you are going to dream then you might as well dream big! 

The dreaming big is often where the pursuit of these goals stop though! Lets say that you have a goal which is to run a marathon in 6 months. This is an admirable goal to have and lets say you attach the goal to a cause by telling yourself that you will collect donations for charity in return for running this marathon (you of course don’t tell anyone about this). The next day, however, is freezing cold and there is rain pouring down outside so you say to yourself “it’s okay, I will start my practice runs tomorrow instead. Except the weather continues like this all week and by then you have got distracted from your goal. You have lost the motivation to achieve this goal and you have taken none of the steps that you should be taking too. This is how most goals end! 

What happens is that when we focus too much on the end goal we lose sight of the small habits that we need to build in order to achieve those big goals! We need to be thinking, lets go on a short run (Day 1) and then you progress this to- let”s go on a slightly longer run today (Day 2). On some days you might not find yourself running as far as the day before but you are committed to building up the daily habit of going for a run and you are getting that bit better day after day through the habit of turning up and progressively improving over time! Once your commitment to running becomes automatic then you could start thinking about what your aims are going to be. You can try looking for ways to challenge yourself with events and running with friends! 

The whole point is that you are much more likely to achieve some of the long end goals if you focus on the smaller daily habits that you need to build up over time. You will find that you get yourself into much less of a muddle and you are much less likely to end up stopping because the goal seems so big or far away. You won’t need to rely so much on motivation because you will be making smaller daily commitments to yourself rather than large audacious goals! 

See it is easy to set big goals, but it is just as easy to fall short of the goal for not taking care of the daily habits you should be focussing on instead! 

Stay Strong 

Alex O-King