Aug
7
The Marathon Metaphor
I just made up my mind to run my fourth marathon. I’ll start training in September for the P.F. Chang’s Rock and Roll Arizona Marathon. It will still be pretty hot here in Scottsdale, so I will definitely be studying up on staying hydrated. I didn’t think I would run another one after I came in under my goal time in the Music City Marathon a couple of years ago. Yet, I find myself having that itch again, so here we go! It all comes back to engaging in activities that provide those feelings you like to have.
Fueling Up during NYC Marathon
My last post was about my thoughts and philosophy on having a vision centered around feelings rather than arbitrary, non-meaningful accomplishments. I would say that running a marathon, or any type of endurance event, is a great way to metaphorically practice the vision philosophy I’d laid out for you. For me, the marathon presents an opportunity to feel challenged over a long period of time (not just in the race itself, but also throughout the months of training leading up to the race). I get a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that I can endure. I can endure the early morning training. I can endure the physical pain. I can endure the doubt. I can endure the solitude.
The marathon is really a metaphor for life…a long distance race that is sometimes a slow climb up hill, sometimes a speedy sprint down hill, and sometimes steady and flat. Some times, it feels like everything is in perfect rhythm, and other times you feel like you’re hitting a wall. There will be points when your loved ones are there showering you with support, but there will be points when it’s just you, alone. You have to do things you don’t enjoy. You have to prepare to achieve your goals. You will see humanity within strangers. Some people will try to cut you off and jostle for a better position. You will laugh. You will scream. You will cheer. You will cry from pain. You will cry from joy.
The Vision and Goals Relationship
Yes, I will set a goal for my marathon finish time. As I said in my previous post, I do believe in goals and identifying milestone achievements for your life. My philosophy for a vision is all about the bigger picture. The vision is what will guide you in establishing your milestones and the goals you’ll need to meet in order to get there. Goals provide you a structure for how you can focus on specific activities that provide those feelings you like having.
So what exactly is a milestone? Well, running a marathon is a perfect example. It’s a huge accomplishment, and for me it provides a lot of the feelings I enjoy having. It aligns with my needs for autonomy, being internally challenged, preparing strategically, and achievement. Milestones are those large-scale moments in life where you strike a balance between the feelings you like to have, your values, and your strengths. Milestones are the memory-markers in our minds. They are not an everyday occurrence. A milestone a triumphant feat for most people, because it’s difficult to strike that perfect balance I mentioned before. The problem for most people though, is that they make a list of milestones they think they want to achieve without identifying their personal vision, strengths, or values. So, they either don’t achieve a milestone and feel like a failure, or they do achieve a milestone and feel empty…the outcome is anti-climatic. For others, who achieve a milestone but didn’t plan for it, they often attribute it to luck. But to me, luck is putting yourself in a position where those key elements of feelings, strength, and values have an opportunity to align.
Goals are the smaller activities and challenges to set for yourself which allow you to resonate with your vision in route to your milestones. Goals provide that structure that we all crave for in our lives. Goals can be short-term or long-term. But once again, there has to be that alignment. The goals you set for yourself need to be smaller moments of connecting to the feelings within your vision, incorporate your strengths, and agree with what you value. Going to back to my marathon example, I will set goal for an overall marathon finish time which will be a time range based on what I know I’m capable of running. As a novice runner, setting a goal that is down to the exact minute can be self-defeating. Unless, you’re shooting for a larger milestone like qualifying for Boston, the Olympic Trials, etc., then just setting out to finish the damn thing is okay! I’ll also set goals for the amount of miles I want to run each week during training. This will allow to be creative in how I strategically plan my routines, without beating myself up if I miss a run here or there on a certain day.
Much like vision, I’m devoting a considerable chunk of my book to the different types of goals, how to write a goal statement, and how to map your goals together. The book writing process, by the way, is another great metaphor for creating a vision and goal setting, but I’ll save that for another post.
Keep up with me on Twitter so you can hear more about my training, and hopefully you’ll send words of encouragement along the way! Also, PWR will soon be on Facebook too! So, keep your eye open for that announcement.
