Goals

"Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” -Fitzhugh Dodson

The definition of a goal is the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective. The purpose toward which an endeavor is directed! I'd like you to take a moment and ask yourself what your goal(s) is/are? Do you have an objective in mind? What is it that you would truly like to accomplish? My idea's on goals are that they should be lofty enough that you have to work your butt off to achieve them yet they must still be realistic and attainable. Now your goal may be that you want to run a marathon or a half marathon or maybe your goal is you want to go back to school and get your degree, that's great! Ask yourself if that goal is realistic! Is it actually attainable? If you feel that it is, then we need to move on to the second part of the quote...having a plan to reach your goals...

This is unfortunately where most people fall off the wagon. We don't plan properly. We don't plan to achieve the desired result. Sure we all start off with great intentions until life gets in the way. Kids, school, work, family, ect...the list can go on and on. So in the end, the great plan that you had becomes secondary and the result is you don't achieve your goal(s).
So what can you do to actually achieve the goals you have set for yourself? I like to follow the three P's of success. Prepare, Plan and Perform.

Prepare - Before you can make a plan you need to prepare properly. Do you have the time to dedicate to running a marathon or half marathon? Do you have the money to go back to school? Before you can make an effective plan you must know that you can actually dedicate the time, energy and resources!

Plan - So you believe you can dedicate the time, energy and resources to creating an effective plan to achieve your goal(s). Now it is time to plan. You need to plan for everything! If you are putting together a training plan to run a marathon, these plans are generally 18 weeks or longer in duration. You need to know in advance that there will be times when life dictates that you have to deviate from your plan. This is ok and normal, what would be bad is you never get back on track and abandon your plan. So if you get sick and you miss a week, it is not the end of the world. You can either pick back up where you left off or you just restart where you currently are and just "skip" the days that you missed. The biggest key in planning is knowing that not all plans are perfect and not all plans can be followed to the letter. Another quick note about plans and planning. You should create or develop a plan that fits you. There is no one size fits all training plan. Everyone is different so why have a cookie cutter training plan. You know you and you know you better than anyone else. What I use for training works for me, but it probably wouldn't work for anyone else! Remember it is YOUR destination, you need to set the course and raise the sail. No one will do it for you!

Perform - Now it is time to go out there and execute the plan. I challenge you to put 100% effort into every aspect of your plan. So that way if you miss a day or two or three, it really won't matter all that much provided you are pushing it hard and doing everything you can to stay on track. If you perform well at executing your plan properly, you will perform well on race day.

Happy Running