Goals

Goals are essential for a full life and I will prove it. :)

In every sport there is goals (in some sports the ways to earn points are even by scoring goals ie soccer, hockey, and kicking a football through a goal post!). In every activity you do you have a goal in mind. For working, your goal may be to earn money, to become the first woman CEO of your company, to move up in the ladder, to expand your business, etc. Whatever it is you aren't just working to work. You have a reason for working. When you are playing an instrument, you aren't just playing it to play it. You play it to get better, to enjoy your music, to possibly perform. You set a goal that you work towards, otherwise you have no reason to play it. When you go to school your goal is to earn the best grade, to complete the program, to get somewhere further than where you are.

Goals are important. It is important to set them for working out as well. I was talking today with Jeff about my workouts now compared to my workouts before I started running. I had goals before I started running, but those goals weren't as important. Well, not that they weren't important (after all losing weight is an important goal to have if you need to lose it!), its just that they weren't tangible. Yes, I could lose weight, but I didn't have a timeline. I didn't have a real reason to lose the weight. NOW my workouts are different. When I run I'm not just running to lose weight. I'm running because I know that if I don't I will suffer greatly during the 5K on June 26th that I am running. I know that I will let the team I am running with down if they prepare for it and I don't. And I know that I will be angry with myself, and you are hardest on yourself, so you better believe I would have a hard time forgiving myself.

But I don't run with just that goal in mind. I set other goals. I set small goals, which are important if I want to keep succeeding. I set a goal of completing that workout that day. And then my goal is to complete the week. This week I had a tough time with a run and I held on to the treadmill for a minute. For my next workout my goal was to do the whole workout without holding on. And I completed it. And it felt amazing. That runner's high that everyone talks about? It is because runners are constantly setting goals. When I was on the eliptical I didn't have goals like I did. Sure, I kept expanding my time and seeing how long my endurance could go, but it didn't matter to me like this does.

Setting goals is essential for life. Without them you won't push yourself further than you know you are capable. Set reachable goals. If you can't reach them, what is the point in setting them? You won't feel that excitement of completing one goal and being able to set a new, higher goal for yourself!

So what are your goals?