how do you eat an elephant?
one bite at a time
this is simple
and true
with many things in our lives.
i am lucky enough to have several people i coach for weight loss so there has been lots of discussion lately about my own journey.
one point always rang true for me. i never looked it as "oh my god, i have 100lbs to lose"...it was always about the now and that immediate goal. for example, this week i will lose 3lbs. or this week i will exercise 4 days. or i will make healthy choices today.
it can be so overwhelming to focus on the big numbers and when you shift your perspective and focus to the immediate task at hand, it makes it some much more manageable. and motivating!
the same it true for racing. while the distance you tackle is always part of the equation, staying in the moment, in the NOW of the race. in an ironman distance race, when you are at mile 56 of the bike, you are not thinking about mile 10 of the run (but you should be nailing your nutrition on the bike FOR the run...but I digress). you are there, in the moment.
yes, you are preparing for what's ahead but your focus is on the NOW>
____________________
another way that i "ate my elephant" was with small goals.
i want to run 15 seconds without stopping.
i want to run a mile without stopping.
i want to run a 5k.
i did not start out wanting to run a marathon on my first day running.
triathlon was not even a glimmer in my eye.
did i think someday i want to do >>>xxx<<< ? of course i did
but i stayed in the moment. eating the chunk of elephant that was the now.
it was the achievement of those small goals ALONG the way that kept me wanting more, that light the fire for more/faster/better along the way.
so set yourself up for success. plan. make goals. big and small. but keep in the moment. focus on the now.
how what you are doing today is getting you one step closer to tomorrow.
so how are you going to eat your elephant?
what are some ways you keep motivated to reach a big goal?
5 comments:
Nice post. Well said.
This is a great post. After being out of racing and training for almost a year I kept having anxiety about racing an IM (even w/ a year to train). I finally had to just focus on the shorter races in the near future and ignore the IM completely.
Reading other people's success stories helps keep me going, but I need a kick in the ass right now!
I ran a marathon without stopping for the first time ever on saturday and snagged a 10 minute PR. it was my 8th marathon. that's some elephant!
Thank you! I needed this right now! My small bite is to only focus on the number of days I workout each week. Once I get into a steady rhythm of working out 5 days a week, then I can focus on what I do during those 5 days, and so on. For me, thinking about how much weight I want to lose is too overwhelming, and I feel like I keep failing with that approach, but so far I am doing well with making it a priority to get in a workout 5 days a week, and I am starting to feel better and want to eat healthier, even if I am not seeing the weight loss yet.
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