Helen Smith , our brilliant coach, shares her thoughts on taking it step by step to reach your goal – and beat the obstacles!
Helen Smith , our brilliant coach, shares her thoughts on taking it step by step to reach your goal – and beat the obstacles!
I’ve never been a big fan of making new years resolutions. I find that I end up feeling worse as I inevitably set my sights on something unrealistic in that moment of unblinkered optimism. Then I feel I have failed or I feel overwhelmed by what I have decided to do. The other problem is that new year only comes once a year! Then it is rather a long time until the next moment of goal setting.
Instead I prefer to spend time reflecting on what goals I have achieved, or not, and the learning that I made along the way. This helps me to focus on what I want to do next. I have no fixed timescale for doing this; sometimes it is after 2 months, sometimes 5. I guess it depends on what my original goal was and how long I took to make it a reality.
So whilst reflecting on 2019 and looking into 2020, I realised that I have, for the last 3 years or so, been considering running a 5k. 3 years!!! How have I been thinking about it for so long?! Well, I guess that’s because I’ve had a remarkable number of excuses that I put between me and my goal. Some people might think that I didn’t really want to achieve it. But I know that isn’t true. I think I was scared of failing, or not being good enough or fast enough. The rumblings of school PE lessons still in my ears.
What I noticed more than anything was how much energy I had put into the obstacles to reaching my goal!
That was it! The diamond that shone through my reflections. How I can spend a lot of energy avoiding doing something that feels a bit too hard. If I just changed that into productive, focused energy, it wouldn’t be more tiring but it would certainly be more fulfilling! So, for 2020, I am going to challenge myself when I realise that I am using up energy on avoiding things.
With this in mind, how might I approach my 5k running goal?
Self created barrier 1….
I wasn’t good at PE in school so I can’t run 5k now.
Challenge to the perceived barrier…
Do you want to be defined by something from over 25 years ago? You are allowed to change.
Self created barrier 2….
I might not be good enough or fast enough at running.
Challenge to the perceived barrier…
Who sets those measures of good enough or fast enough? Is there anyone judging you? If you complete 5k then you have done it faster and better than you’ve ever done it before!
Self created barrier 3….
I might fail.
Challenge to the perceived barrier…
What is your definition of success? Make sure it is realistic for you. What is the worst that can happen?
Self created barrier 4….
It’s raining
Challenge to the perceived barrier…
You will get wet. And then you will get dry again! (to be honest, at this point I did just laugh at myself as I’d reached the bottom of the barrel of excuses!
So far I have ran 3.5k with a little bit of walking in the middle. I have also accepted the offer of a kind friend to run with me once a week. And unsurprisingly, she was genuinely happy to go at my pace and walk a bit – just like she said she was!
And I can honestly say that my running achievements so far have only taken the same amount of energy as I spent trying to avoid it on previous occasions. I also have the added bonus of feeling proud of what I am achieving and all the reasons that I wanted to run 5k in the first place. Now let’s not let the next goal take 3 years of avoiding before I get started!!
If you would like to help me raise funds to support our partner charity Backup North West then visit our fundraising page here and help us raise funds and get fit!
