It is profoundly important to actually know the target you are striving for. Too many of us go through our lives, our careers, our relationships with a vague sense of a desire to improve but with no clear target. How can you actually get better, or strive for something if you do not know the target? Training for an event, like I am doing now, is giving me a clear target. I have been spending time analyzing some things at my work, and it occurred to me how important it is to articulate the target to myself and others. If we do not know when to quit, then the human mind will always quit early.
So if you are stumbling through life, with no direction home, then consider spending the necessary time to set clear goals, with appropriate measures. Instead of “I am going to exercise everyday” it would be better to say I am going to to exercise for 30 minutes everyday. Even better would be to get very specific. I am going to reach X, or achieve Y or prepare for Z. Knowing the target is crucial for performance, you have to know what to stretch too, or you just will not stretch at all.
In contemplation of this, I have been working on for over a year some personal objectives and key results. They drive my morning time decision on what to work on each day. I have struggled with keeping this simple and effective. It seems that I gravitate toward complexity all the time! My latest iteration is quite an improvement and seems to be working for me. I am calling it 7,6,5,4,3,2,1
7 represents a target I set for a spiritual aspect of my life. A lofty ambition, but with a clear goal. If achieved this year, I feel I would be in a better place as a person. When I start my day, I always ask – is today the day I am going to achieve 1 of these 7?
6 represents 600. This is a personal development goal. Something I have wanted to do for a long time. The pinnacle result would be to not only get this development goal done, but to do it at a level represented by the number 600.
5 is for 500. This is a monetary goal and has to do with my work. It is a personal target for me to achieve through my own personal efforts to aid the cause of the business I am involved in. It is an almost unobtainable goal, but if things align well – then yes – I could get to the 500. I ask myself every morning, what extra thing am I going to do today to reach for the 500?
4 is for hours. The time goal I have for a marathon. Eating that sugary treat is not going to get me to 4 hours. Cheating on my sprinting is not going to get me to 4 hours. Wimping out on my long runs are not going to get me to 4 hours. 4 hours is the target – and I have to push hard to get there. It will not be easy, for me at least.
3 is for my kids. I have committed to help them with a project this summer and into next year for robotics. 3 represents the top 3. I want to help them achieve the one of the top 3 spots in their robotics competition. 3 reminds me to put a little effort in everyday to help push that effort along.
2 is for some writing that I am doing. I have procrastinated this for far too long. 2 is for the number of chapters that I want to write in the next period of time. Everyday, I stare 2 in the face, and just open the document and write just one more line or two.
1 has to do with personal wealth. It represents a concept that I am working toward, but is hard to achieve. It requires discipline, which I have none of. However, everyday, I do 1 more thing to get there. So far the results are poor, but improving. I made a big change a few weeks ago do to the 1, if I keep that up, I will have achieved the 1 in just a few years.
Knowing the targets is really important. It improves your focus in your spiritual, financial, mental, and physical life. It gives you something to strive for.
Guy Reams
365 Alumni
34 Days to 1st Marathon
