Be specific! February 18, 2008
Posted by regivizz Motivation, Running
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Set your goals. Long term and short term ones, and make them specific!
I will exercise more. Is that really a goal? Sure. Kind of. Okay, not really.
How are you going to exercise more? Ride 3 times a week? Walk to the park 2 times a week? Swim every day? What are you going to do this week?
Motivation is so often a key to starting and continuing a project but my experience has taught me that I need to be specific with my goals. You can find tons of reasons to stay on the couch, but make a list of why you shouldn’t! Find a training plan, set a date for a race, SIGN UP for said race and work toward a healthier you.
Why? Because you can do it!
Comments
Great point!
I’ve noticed for me that this can be chicken vs. egg thing… you need a big goal to stay focused on the long term, but you also need specific short term goals so you don’t get lost in the clouds. In the end you need both… it doesn’t really matter which comes first… but you can’t make it with just one.
A framework that I’ve come up with (at least I think it was my idea - haven’t seen it anywhere else!) is “GOAT”:
o Goals are long term, big, scary looking things. When you first think about them, you struggle to figure out how you’re ever going to achieve them. They’re typically more than a year off when you start, though can sometimes be closer.
o Objectives are stepping stones along the way. Their still Big Deals, but you can see straight off that they’re achievable. You’ll have somewhere between 1 and 4 objectives that get you to a goal - maybe as frequent as one ever three months or so.
o Activities are the components that lead you to the Objectives. They’re things to achieve every month, or even every week. If you’re using a periodised training plan, the activities will encompass completing each period cycle, AND each week’s specified number of training hours.
o Tasks are the things you do on a specific day - the workout you’ve got in the diary for TODAY.
So for me, I have:
* GOAL: 1/2 Ironman in 2008. It’s looking like being the Cleveland Steelman in July.
* OBJECTIVES: 1 Olympic distance race beforehand; cycling mileage on track to hit 3,500 in 2008; 40 minute 10k; 07:30 400m swim.
* ACTIVITIES: Preiodised training plan; weekly schedule including running with local club and masters’ swim classes.
* TASKS: Today I’ve a 25 mile bike session.