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Ever feel like time is getting away from you?

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lifetime sport

Did you look at your calendar this month and think what the hell happened?

The other day I noticed it was August. August. Which is practically Spring. Which means it’s a few months until the end of the year. I confess I panicked a little. Where did it go? There were so many things I was going to get to this year. And some I have, but a whole lot of others have fallen by the wayside of life.

It’s easy to feel frustrated when you think you are starting over. But you aren’t starting over, you are moving forward. Even so, when you feel that way, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and throw everything out the window. Convince yourself that you can’t do it and give up.

What’s that great thing I heard? Change the plan, not the goal.

Most of the time people give up when they are moments away from success. But why do they do it? Because they don’t know how close they are – if they knew they would stick it out. So maybe the goal isn’t out of reach, the timeline is just slightly unrealistic. Maybe you need to change tactics or take a slower approach.

Once you start thinking about it in terms of a lifetime, instead of a year things get easier and harder.

I was listening to a journalist being interviewed on a podcast the other day and he was talking about how he had this assignment to live his life for 6 months as if he was dying. He really invested in it. Towards the end he stopped taking photos, or talking to people because what was the point? He was going to die anyway. He noticed how easy it was to lose your humanity once you don’t have something to hope for. It was just a writing assignment, but the idea stayed with him. He stopped thinking about his accomplishments in days or years and started thinking about it in decades. He has estimated how long he is likely to live and has a count down clock at his desk. It is equally comforting and terrifying. Because he has time. But it’s not that much time. He has about 14,000 days. It’s a lot. But it’s not that much.

So if this year has gotten away from you a bit, don’t think about one year, or a few months – think bigger.

If you think about running as a lifetime sport, or 10,000 hours, it becomes a whole lot easier to appreciate just what you are capable of achieving. Imagine what your life could be like in one year or two years if all you have to do is keep going. Make a new plan, dream a new dream. But don’t give up. Chances are you are millimetres away from success.

Learn to Run starts Monday. Or you can check out our Training Programs which you can start at any time.

Why I don’t believe in motivation

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I don’t really believe in motivation. I don’t. I think that on any given day all of us do things that are necessary that we would probably rather not do, but the end result is a required one. Things like making lunches and going to work or any manner of other things that have to get done. Like washing dishes. Apparently they have to be done every day. We don’t require motivation for any of those things, they just get done. Ok, maybe sometimes the dishes don’t get done every day. But eventually, they get done.

The thing is that things that are good for us, aren’t going to feel good all the time.

So I might not be particularly keen on doing the dishes but I am pretty keen on not living in squalor. So I do the dishes. I might not be keen on making dinner for fussy eaters, but I do and whenever they try something new I do a little victory dance. Motivation doesn’t come into any of that.

One day I might be really motivated and think I am going to have an awesome week with my diet and then a few hours later I find myself on my third helping of cookie ice cream deliciousness. Motivation is fickle. It comes and it goes. I don’t need motivation to eat a good diet during the week. I need planning and meals ready to go in the fridge so that when I come home ravenous I have options that are immediately available.

I don’t need motivation to exercise either. I just go. I don’t give it space in my head. I have a plan, I write it down and if it says that I am running/crossfitting that day, well that’s what I’m doing. I do it when I feel like it. I do it when I don’t feel like it. I do it when I’m looking forward to it. And I do it when I’m dreading it. Because it all leads me to exactly the same place. The place where I say, wow I am so glad I did that today.

I do believe in inspiration though. That first spark that says even though I’m completely out of shape I could do that. Inspiration becomes a goal. A goal will put fire in your belly when you are doing hard workouts. A goal will help you make decisions easily. For example is this cookie ice cream deliciousness congruent with my goal? (Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.) If my goal is to run 5 kilometres in under 25 minutes then I don’t hesitate when it comes to running gruelling intervals. Because that is what is going to get me from Point A to Point B. I believe great inspiration will push you to believe that you can. And if you can see it, you can do it.

I believe in inspiration. I believe in a community of expectation. I believe in being part of a team. But motivation? It’s a waste of your time. Because you already have everything you need.

Isn’t it time you stopped being at war with yourself?

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Life is too short, too precious, too arbitrary, too fleeting for you to spend one more minute, one more second at war with yourself. You know what I’m talking about.

 

When you look in the mirror and think ‘If I was just . . .’ Or when you debate in your head for twenty minutes about that really nice looking piece of pie. Or when you think to yourself ‘I should . . .’  Or when you talk to yourself like you don’t even like who you are, like you would never talk to anyone else.

How much time will you waste in this war with yourself? How many moments will you sacrifice to it? And when you get to the end of it, is it even justifiable?

Three years ago, I was so deeply uncomfortable with myself and with the way I looked. But if I could go back now and talk to that person I would tell her you don’t need to diet and exercise, you need to eat and move. Because all the joy, self confidence and freedom will come from allowing your body to do what it was born to do. Running isn’t a punishment for my body, it’s a celebration of everything it is capable of. I would tell myself back then that once you see what your body is capable of doing, it will be impossible for you to think one critical thought about it, no matter what it looks like.

To the outside, it might look like my body changed and so I changed how I felt about myself. But that is just untrue. It’s backwards. I changed how I felt about my body and then my life changed.

So when I see women being hard on themselves, their bodies and their achievements its heartbreaking to me. Because I remember what that was like. I remember that person who was so vulnerable and so completely unaware of just how tiny a cage she was building for herself.

If you have had a similar experience to me, it might be time to bust out of that cage, it might be time to love your body for what it can do, it might be time to celebrate that. It might be time to stop being at war with yourself.

If you are ready to start moving more and to stop the war with yourself, you might like our Learn to Run course. Registrations are open now. 

 

 

7 Things To Get You Out of Bed In The Morning

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Winter is hard for the getting out of bed in the morning. Even here, in the land of no discernible Winter it’s darker and a bit more chilly. And the bed is warm. And it has a doona and good smelling snuggly children in it. Seriously, why do kids smell so good when they are sleeping? Is it some kind of parental hormonal thing to make sure that when they are awake and you are into your fifth hour of whining you are all stocked up on love from the good smelling sleeping part?

1. Have a plan

Write it down. If you write it down you are far more likely to do it. There’s something about putting a thing in writing that makes it far more likely for it to happen.

2. Have your clothes ready

The less decisions you have to make the better. More choices mean that you are more likely to feel overwhelmed. So have your clothes all ready to go so that’s one less thing you have to worry about.

3. Tell someone you are going

Facebook is forever. Sure, you might not want to get out of bed for your own benefit but if you’ve said you are going to on Facebook, you really have to, right? You can do it in our group!

4. Have a reward system in place

Like a delicious coffee when you finish. Mmmmmm, coffee.

5. Don’t think about the ungodly hour, think about what you are getting

Think about the positives, not the negatives. Time alone, gorgeous early morning views, fresh air, listening to that new album or new podcast. ALONE.

6. If you are a habitual snooze button presser, put your phone somewhere in the room where you have to get out of bed to turn it off.

And once you are out of bed, might as well go for a run, yeah?

7. Lie to yourself and tell yourself you’ll just go for a walk.

Once you are out there, walk if you want, but might as well go for a run, yeah?

Need a bit of extra help?

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