One of our clients recently completed his first half marathon. During the race, he noticed his smart watch showed not only miles covered and average pace, it also showed the total elapsed time. At about 1:50:00, he began thinking that almost two hours was a very long time to have been running and questioned if he had even another ten minutes in him to keep going. The solution? He disabled that feature and simply concentrated on average pace.
He calculated beforehand what his mile-by-mile pace should be. Changing his focus to that metric, rather than total elapsed time, made a huge mental difference. What you give attention to, you get more of. It was more beneficial for him to pay attention to his goal (pace) rather than what was behind him (elapsed time) that was creating negative thoughts. Does your attention support your mission? Or is it distracting from your mission?
Recently I took ground on one of the goals I set during our Slight Edge Advantage (SEA) event—ten straight pull ups. I bought a pull-up bar and, much to the chagrin of my wife, parked it right in the living room. Now, I see it all the time, removing barriers to entry and creating a reminder. If I put it in the garage, as she suggested, it would clearly be out of sight, out of mind. I know I’m a visual creature. With it in the living room, I see it continually, and when I do, I either hang or work on pull ups.
The same is true of keeping my fishing poles at the dock rather than in the garage. I’m making it easy to fish. If I had to walk back to the garage for them, I wouldn’t. If it’s easy, or at least easier, I’ll do it. Remove barriers.
Motivation only gets you so far. What really matters is structure. When you have structure, discipline gets easier. Structure is the secret sauce. If you rely on motivation to do something, you’ll accomplish nothing. Whenever you really need motivation, it is almost always AWOL. “I don’t wanna; I don’t feel like it” are natural reactions. You need structure to do it anyway. Maybe structure needs community or a coach. Part of my structure was pull-up bar in the living room.
Set your structure then surrender to it. Just show up. Just do it.
Coach Ken a.k.a. SuperCoach
www.gettingresultsinc.com Complete as assessment and let’s have a structured conversation to help you go further and faster with less fuel.
