Fat, fifty and new goals

In my previous post, I shared with you the template that I put in place to keep myself focused and hold myself accountable. One of the key parts of that template is goal setting. Many of us have goals, but we tend to keep them in the back of our mind and we semi-commit to them. Then if we fail or never live up to the goal, we are not accountable to anyone and no harm done. THIS IS THE EASY PATH. You may get results taking the easy path, but most people fail to live up to their own expectations with this method.

Goal structure

In writing my new template, I felt that I needed to plan my goals in different stages. To do this, the goals were broken down into long term, mid term and short term goals. In many cases the goals supported each other in the hierarchy, but not in all cases. The example being that if I was a first time runner and I wanted to qualify and run the Boston marathon, I would need to eat the elephant in pieces. My Long term goal would be to actually run the Boston marathon, but my mid term goal would be to complete my first marathon. My short term goals would be to build my weekly average up to 30-40(50-65 km) miles per week, complete a half marathon and run a few local races. Other goals such as health goals may or may not support lenger term goals, but they are equally as important.

My goal setting

I used this method to create my goal structure, and like everyone starting a new program, I was extremely ambitious. I set 2 long term goals, 3 mid term goals and 3 short term goals. My goals ranged from career, to health, fitness and to family. I would not recommend this strategy for most people as it can be difficult to make such an extreme change and live up to it. But as I have said again and again, I am stubborn and I was going to make this work. To keep my focus I wrote down each of these goals every day and after writing them down, I read them back to myself. On top of this, I started a weekly review where I evaluated how I was doing in reaching my goals as well as completing the other items on my daily template. I was now accountable but I felt like I needed more.

Not quite a Big hairy audacious goal ....but big enough

I decided that I needed something else to motivate me and keep me on track. In the past, this has always been some sort of event where I need to train, plan and focus for the event. Past examples of this in my life have been Ironmans, climbing trips, motocross racing, and marathons. I had already decided that I was done with full Ironman's, having completed three and consumed my life with the required training. My son had mentioned to me that there is a half ironman in the city where he goes to university, and I thought that I should race the event at least once while he was in school there. So I signed up!

Holding myself accountable, to others

You would think that it is enough to write my goals daily and spend a bunch of money on race entries, bikes, and training equipment. But as a further level of accountability, I had to tell people. Once I tell people I am doing something, I am now 100% accountable. I cannot give up as I would appear as a quitter. Don't get me wrong, people can quit for many reasons and I am not one to judge. But I am stubborn, and this was the final piece that I needed to lock in and keep a razor sharp focus on my goals.

So now with goals set, a major event on my calendar and a daily action plan in place, I was ready. Ready to make the effort to bring about the changes I needed in my life. It's only work! Let's talk about how I planned out that work in my next post.