To run a race, take the first step

Lately I have been writing a lot about goals and the mindset needed to accomplish goals. One of the main rules that I should tell you about is scaling your goals. Scaling your goals is very important to gaining momentum and success. For instance, if you set a goal that you have never come close to trying or even thought about before, what do you think your chances of succeeding are? Probably pretty slim. So scaling is very important.

Let's say you tell yourself that you are going to run a marathon by July of this year. A couple of questions you should ask yourself. How far have you actually ran in the recent past and are you truly ready to commit to the routine of preparing to run a marathon? If your answers are something like this. I haven't really run that much at all and I am not sure what I will have to do to get ready to run a marathon. This is probably not a very good goal for you on a couple different levels. The main one is the need to understand the sacrifice and disciplined that goes into training for a marathon. Just as difficult as the actual physical part of training can be, the mental part can be even more difficult. Our brain is a very powerful muscle and can make or break you when it comes to achieving goals. 

the better approach is to write down your ultimate goal and then break it down into mini goals with hard dates to achieve.

Main goal - Marathon

Mini goals

1 - run 1 mile non stop with in two weeks

2 - Run plus walk a 5k and build to run a complete running 5K (3.2 miles) within one month after running a mile

3 - Enter first 5k

4 - Increase running mileage up to 5 mile and the 6 miles 

5 - Run 6 miles or 10K one month after completing the 5K race

6 - Enter into a 10k race

7 - Start to increase running distance and be able to run a 1/2 marathon 1 1/2 months after finishing 10k race

8 - enter into a 1/2 marathon race

From there you keep building the micro goals all the way up to the main goal of the marathon. 

As you can see there is a lot of building that gets you to your main goal. You must be willing to take the sacrifice and discipline to achieving a goal more seriously then the actual goal. It is the process and dedication to the process that makes your goal have a chance to succeed. You must do the work and EMBRACE THE SUCK to make yourself strong enough on the inside so you can succeed on the outside.