Keep Your Goals Very Small

Start Small and Never Stop
Start Small and Never Stop

What the?  Keep my goals very small?  Didn’t you say to dream big?

Didn’t you say, “If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough.”

Exactly.

And maybe the challenge for many people, including you, is that your definition of impossible is inaccurate.

When I started running 11 years ago, my impossible goal wasn’t to run in the Master’s Track & Field World Championships.

It also wasn’t to run one mailbox a day for a week, and then two mailboxes a day the second week and so on.

It was to get started and never stop.

One day at a time.  Get started and never quit.  Never quit, one day at a time – this is what I mean by very small goals.

Do you see the difference?

Merry Christmas from Lane 8

And on this day was born a child.  In a manger, at the stable. No room at the Inn.  And they called him Emmanuel.

Impossible?

Perhaps nothing is impossible.  Perhaps impossible is nothing.

Lane 8 is a simple website and blog.  Even the first Lane 8 business card was handmade, in five minutes. And  5,000 were printed and taken to Finland.

August, 2009, in Lahti, Finland, the Master’s Track & Field World Championships drew 5,300 athletes from 80 Countries, with the same Olympic spirit as the official Olympic Games.

Many of the Master’s athletes celebrate Christmas, and that little boy everyone calls Emmanuel.

Lane 8 is simply a humble beginning. Not at all unlike a child born in a stable.

Lane 8, Finland, 2009
Lane 8, Finland, 2009

Merry Christmas from Lane 8.

Handmade t-shirt, Finland
Handmade t-shirt, Finland

Peace on Earth, good will toward men.

Masters Track?

Masters Track
Masters Track

Yes, Masters Track.

What do you do to stay motivated to reach and maintain your health goals?

Master’s athletes are defined as people over 30 years old.

There are other sports that have Masters competitions too.  The thought of trying something completely out of my comfort zone actually seems possible – at a future time, of course.

Why?

Because the whole point of the competition, to me, is simply to find ways to stay motivated.  When things get boring, I get less motivated.

This is a deadly place to be, literally.

Someday. maybe swimming.  Or perhaps I’ll try Filed events, like the Discus, Shot Put, or, heaven forbid, the Pole Vault.

Whatever it takes.  That’s one of the secrets to staying healthier.  I figure everybody knows this, but it never hurts to say important things over and over.

Does it?

Example or Warning?

When you look in the mirror, do you see what others see?

And I’m not talking about looks.  I’m talking about effort.

And attitude.

Let’s throw in beliefs, values, and habits too.

Yeah, that’s the one, habits.

Do you think when people look at your health habits, they see you as an example or as a warning?

Why Exercise?

Age old question isn’t it? Why exercise?

What’s your answer?

There will never be a better time than right now to do it. I realize many reading this will disagree that there’s a better day than today.

If so, may I ask this, “Then if it’s not today, when?”

How many more days, weeks, months, years can your answer be, “Not today?”

Have a great day. “Here’s to your health, your goals, your dreams, and, to today!”