GET STARTED!!!

One of the lines I use occasionally, specifically when attempting to be funny is a crack about starting a new diet tomorrow. When you think about it any comment about delaying a change in our life is not funny because it’s too close to reality. Most of us have perfected the ability to delay decisions, even ones that are very important to us.

I have a new practice I’ve wanted to establish in my life for quite a while (and, no, it’s not a diet though I could lose a few pounds). It’s actually a new practice that will ultimately lead toward the accomplishment of one of my major life goals. I know I can make the necessary commitment to establish this new practice because there was a six-year period in my life where I dedicated myself to long-distance running and completed two marathons, along with multiple other shorter races. The level of dedication required to train 30 to 50 miles per week was greater than anything I had done in my life up to that point. Early in my training for my first marathon, I made a job change that required me to work an average of 75 hours per week. Even with my heavy workload I was able to maintain my training because I had already established myself in the daily training schedule.

Even though I know I can make the commitment to this change, it’s still not any easier to get started. There always seems to be a convenient, rational reason to delay getting starting in this new practice. Tomorrow always seems to be a better choice than today. What I’ve realized, and you probably have your own story, is that when we delay decisions this way, tomorrow never comes.

When I have a significant goal in my life one of the ways my brain works is to create a plan to achieve the goal. The plan seems to most often start with a sprint. I’ll explain what I mean with this example: Let’s say I need to lose 25 pounds. I’ll come up with a plan to start exercising four times a week and significantly changing my diet (i.e. cutting out sugar and bread). I may do okay for a few weeks in working my plan, but then something happens and I miss a day of exercising or I blow the diet big time. This lapse is often enough to derail my plan to lose 25 pounds. This may be way too philosophical but what if I set out to lose the first two pounds rather than the whole 25 pounds? I say this because I’ve done enough dieting in my life to know getting started is the hardest part. To state the obvious, no one can lose 25 pounds in one week.

My earlier reference to training for a marathon is helpful, at this point. Several weeks from running in my first marathon the schedule I was following required me to run 22 miles. Yes, that’s one run in one day, not the total over a week. There’s no way in the first few months of my new commitment to running I could have ever imagined going 22 miles, which for me was about three hours of non-stop running. When the time came for this long run, I was able to do it relatively easily. In case you’re wondering, I can’t imagine running 22 miles today.

In all of my rambling in today’s blog, here’s the main point: GET STARTED! I appreciate having an intense plan to accomplish a major goal, but most of us need to simply get moving towards our desired goal.  Get moving, and set short-term goals that represent progress and celebrate when you achieve those goals. It’s like the ancient question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time!