Back in January, I was challenged to do something different. Something that would take significant effort and isn’t something I’ve done before.
I reviewed my 2022 goals (business and personal) and asked myself:
What’s something I’ve wanted to do, have never done and, in preparing for/accomplishing it, will support other already-defined goals?
Two immediate responses:
- Finish (finally!) my book
- Complete a marathon.
A quick check online found the Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon happening close to my late sister’s birthday and it has a fundraising component for breast cancer. It’ll also help with my personal “healthy longevity” goals. Without a second thought I signed up.
Great! Except while I reversed my diabetes last year, I’m still overweight and in no shape to complete a half-marathon.
Next step was to bring in how I plan for any goal – from business to reversing diabetes to getting through 8 years of full-time care-giving while running my business.
3 Steps to Achieving Your Goals
- Reverse engineer the goal.
The half-marathon is on October 16th. I need to taper for about two weeks before so essentially, I’ve got to be able to complete 13.1 miles by October 2nd.
I grabbed a calendar and backed my training up, including signing up for a couple 5K and 10Ks to help me prep. Then I started 75Hard. - Constantly ask: Does it move the needle?
Is what I’m doing/about to do helping or hurting my goal? We have international clients crossing five time zones and I can find myself in my office both early and late.
As a result, the first thing was to set a new morning and shutdown routine that supports my training plan without negatively impacting the business. - Be open to new possibilities/opportunities.
In addition to building my cardio endurance, I need to build muscle. In the past, that typically meant a gym membership. For many reasons, I don’t want to join a gym. New idea: Convert a room in the house into a workout area: cardio, dumbbells, strength training, etc. It’s all there…
While I described this from the standpoint of my half-marathon training, it’s the exact same process we use for reaching business goals and what I used to reverse diabetes before my 2021 birthday.
What will you use it for?