Five Steps To Keep Life Interesting
Posted: May 13, 2015
Life is kind of like a stream. When it’s flowing, it’s fresh and interesting. But when it stops flowing, it can dry up completely! If you’d like to keep things flowing, here are five steps to help you get started.
1. Get A Goal.
What do you really want to do? This can be anything from a major career change to accomplishing something on your bucket list. But it all starts with a desire and a goal.
You need to have something you’re aiming at. Zig Ziglar says, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time!” You’ve got to have a goal.
Here’s a silly little goal I’ve had. It’s pretty small stuff, but it will serve as an example today.
We’ve trained at the gym for some Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash mud runs. But I’ve never done the Spartan Sprint, a four mile mud run and obstacle course. That’s something I’ve really been wanting to do.
2. Be Realistic.
While it’s extremely unlikely that I could ever compete in the elite division of any race, I can certainly train to complete the Spartan Sprint on May 16th. Game on.
3. Do your research.
Here’s where you figure out the details. What have other people done? What are they doing? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel here. Just find out what it’s going to take.
Like I mentioned, we’ve done similar events. But this one’s just a little longer than a Warrior Dash, and the obstacles are reported to be much tougher.
So we needed to be able to run at least four miles, with lots of hills, and be prepared for some tough obstacles. We could do that.
4. Take Action.
Last winter, I found out there was a Spartan Sprint in Indianapolis this summer. Once I knew I was free that weekend, I signed up right away. This action step gave the whole thing momentum.
Without action, goals are just things on a list somewhere. It’s not, “I’d like to do that sometime.” It’s: “I’m going to do this on May 16th.”
So then I needed to start training. For this event, I needed some slightly longer runs, since it was four miles instead of the usual three. Most every week since, I’ve made sure I’ve gotten a four mile run in.
I’ve been doing it on trails, too, with lots of hills, to help me get used to them. We’ve also been doing weekly “barn burner” workouts in Boot Camp on Fridays, where we run 1/4 mile intervals with different challenges between laps.
5. Stay focused.
Just like any goal, the key is maintaining your focus. But when other things come up (and they always do), you’ve got to keep that focus. Too many times, we let things interrupt our progress.
I see it all the time with people trying to lose weight and get in shape. They make some progress, but then life gets in the way and they get pulled off track. All too often, they put the weight right back on!
What a shame. All that hard work and momentum gone. Not only do they often have to start over, they don’t get to enjoy the awesome satisfaction of reaching their goal. Stay focused.
So there you have it. A simple set of steps for a simple goal. But the process works the same way for whatever you want to accomplish. So let’s get started!