To Reach Your Goal, Forget About Your Goal and Focus on Your Training Plan.
This week we see many athletes reaching high goals, but you can be sure that they are faced with setbacks, like the rest of us. To stay on track, it’s best to focus on your plan rather than your goal.
Runner Brenda Martinez told Science of Us that she did great in Olympic trials this year, focusing on the little things she could control rather than her overall goal. Days before being on the 1,500 meter team, she nearly got on the team in her best 800 meter race when another runner fell and pushed her. Here’s how she described the consequences:
“I just quickly let go of what happened at 800 meters and went back to my routine to focus on all the little things I could do that would give me the best chance of a good run later in the week.”
After all, you cannot control everything that goes towards your goal. Even if you are aiming for something more humble, such as beating your best result the previous time in a local 5K race, anything can happen. You may be injured, or the weather on competition day may work against you. One day you may even come to the track for training and find that it is closed and will be under construction until the end of the summer. (Yes, it all happened to me.)
However, when you start out, you don’t know any of this. As much as you want to achieve your goal, you cannot predict whether all uncontrollable factors will be on your side. Instead, choose a workout plan that will lead you to your goal and do your best to follow that plan.
Photo by Philo Nordlund .
What Olympians Can Show Us About Big Goal Setting | Science about us