365 into 1
Each of us have "those" goals you know the ones. Those pesky little elusive buggers that just constantly elude us. These goals are interesting, because more often than not these are the big picture ones, and long term in nature, perhaps for you its things like "build a business" "get fitter" "travel more" etc etc.
In these type of goals I am no different to any one reading this. I did aim to build a business, although it wasn't the business I've ultimately ended up building, and I do aim to be fitter and see more of the world than I have already. But as Richard Jefferson and I discussed on episodes #6  of the podcast The gap between inspiration and application is something a lot of us fall down. Even me. Which bring me neatly onto the topic of this blog. I have a year long - and life long - goal. Fitness. (I mentioned this in in the New Years Revolutions episode too, so regular listeners will have a head start here) On my 43rd birthday in 2017 I ran just under 20km. I was around 101kgs, by the time I hit my 44th, my left knee has forced me to retire from running, and I had put on 32 Kgs, now being 136kgs in weight.
So Sarah, how does this happen? I hear you ask. Well it's very simple. 365 days happen like anything else. 1 day at a time. I had to stop running but you don't loose the benefits of fitness straight away, and sadly, I took my hard won gains for granted. (I had lost considerable weight to be at that point in life, and reckoned I had time to figure out the next move in my "athletic" life. Then slowly,1 day at time, "other" goals creep in. There doesn't seem to be "time" to do anything other than what your doing, and of course your energy levels drop ..so you're doing less but more tired doing it. I'm sure you can see where this goes. So a while back I cooked up "a plan" With the wonderful Polly from adventurous coaching I was gonna smash what I then called "project 365" Doing Exercise EVERYDAY for a whole year... I was gonna be machine. Or so I told myself. Guess what happened? yup.. thats right nothing. So I sat and thought about it and asked myself "why?" I'm not short of motivation, one only has to look at my past endeavours to see that. Nor am I short on ability, and determination. So what then? Then it hit me. "creative visualisation" Err hang on Sarah....say what? Creative visualisation. That thing that athletes do at the start of race, or rally drivers do when imagining a course. "Thinking" their way through the race to come, and imagining the outcomes they've worked so hard to be able to aim for. I was doing just that , BUT I was focused on the outcome, which was to get "back" to where I'd been. illogical huh? if one is moving forward how can one go backwards? PLUS I was thinking in terms of a whole year of what I of course know is going to be hard effort, pain and suffering (but good suffering) I was psyching myself out by thinking too BIG. Great internal motivation monologue Sarah .. no wonder you didn't start!
So what to do. Well first off I had to make this "easier", so I've looked at two sports. Some martial arts training and swimming... both of which should be ok for the knee. (being "me" swimming is loaded endeavour but thats for another time) Secondly I was reminded of a quote by an early influence on my thinking, Dr Wayne Dyer. In a video he mentioned that he had not had a drink in 20 years. Not bad for someone who previously drank every day. How did he do it? In his words, not by deciding "I'm not gonna drink for 20years!" but by saying to himself, I don't know when I'm gonna have another drink, but I do know its not today" "Not today".
I love being physically fit. Equally I find being porky with a BMI in the 40's (yeah yeah I know BMI is old hat but y'know) discouraging on so many levels. So, This results in two outcomes that changed the way I looked at my fitness "problem" 1) I'm fat. Now own that shit and accept it.
2) Am I going to activity decide to remain fat? Answer... yeah you guessed it. NOT TODAY. So, cue a few switched priorities, and a purchase or two, even though ££'s are tight. The Bo staff should arrive in 3 days. I'll maybe write a blog about that... I'm pretty stoked to be fair. On one level its just a big stick, on another... it's MY big stick. ;-)
Thats how you squeeze 365 days into 1(at a time) Remember that elusive goal you have?, well perhaps when we have lived enough "NOT TODAYS", we'll be able to look back and see that seemingly unobtainable dream achieved, and realise it was in front of us every single day of that journey. All we have to do is decide to move towards it. One thought, step, action, day, week, month, year, at a time. Sarah@stubbornlyoptimistic.me Why not tell me about you goals? follow along with the podcast, my own challenges, thoughts and theorising. I'll be putting a twitter shout out up shortly Stay tuned!