Goals and the Power of Why
When I was in my final year or so of graduate school, I decided that I would not be working in my field of study after earning my doctorate.
The reasons for that decision are not important here. What is important is that this decision threw my motivation for finishing into a tail-spin … until I identified three core reasons to stay with it.
Those three reasons were:
- personal growth
- professional growth
- to make a contribution
My neuroscience and biomathematics peers could judge the extent to which I satisfied the third reason (whether I had made a significant contribution in my research field), but I could quickly name several parts of my life that benefited from the first and second reasons.
And, as soon as I had my core reasons identified, I became focused again on completing the work needed to earn my Ph.D.
Tony Robbins, whose book Unlimited Power was released just a few years earlier, is the first person I heard talk in depth about the power of why — about having such strong reasons to do what one is doing that they propel one forward towards one’s goal.
For example, suppose that your goal is to buy a new house. If you come up with enough reasons WHY you must buy a new house, such as putting your children in a better school and working from home, then the WHAT, such as the neighborhood and the number of rooms, will take care of itself.
In other words…
Your WHY will propel your WHAT.
I have been thinking a lot recently about goal-setting and endurance running or walking.
Here are two different aspects to setting goals for your endurance training:
- Yes, you ought to have at least one goal for which you are training — because having that goal can help you to stick to a training schedule.
- But you also have one or more reasons BEHIND that goal — so that the goal itself is so meaningful that you will stop at nothing to reach it.
Aspect #1 has been on my mind because I am training now for a marathon that is so far away time-wise that I am in essentially in fitness-maintenance mode instead of actually training for that race.
Aspect #2 has been on my mind because I have a specific goal within that goal: to complete a marathon in under five hours.
This goal has been with me for more than a year now. And last September, when I completed the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 5:02, I knew that I was within striking distance.
But having this “break five hours” goal within my “train for another marathon” goal only gets to the WHAT. It still does not get to the WHY.
My “WHY” for breaking five hours in a marathon includes:
- It will force me to become more physically efficient with my running and walking.
- It will make me work smarter on the mental aspects of completing a marathon.
- I would love to be able to say that I am a “4-something” marathoner!
So, when it comes to your workout schedule and training for your next marathon, half marathon, or other endurance race, I strongly urge you to find the WHY for what you are doing.
If you’re game, here’s the question on which I would love to hear your comments…
What is your endurance running or walking goal now,
and WHY do you have this goal?
Simply post a comment below with your answer.
Tell me WHAT your goal is and, more important, the WHY that is propelling your WHAT.
What’s your endurance running or walking goal, and why?
Let me know by commenting below, and thank you in advance!
photo credit: lululemon athletica
