All my life, I have been taught the importance of setting goals. From my elementary school P.E. teacher trying to convince me the I CAN make it to the top of the climbing rope if I just believe I can, to Stephen Covey convincing me that I need to write down my "mission statement" (in the planner that I should buy from him, to go along with his books . . .), I have held the firm belief that nothing can be accomplished without first setting a goal to do it.
Now, I know that just setting the goals isn’t enough. You have to then WORK toward them – all the while keeping that glowing FUTURE VISION before you. The Will To Succeed! You have to have The Will To Succeed if you want to reach your goals.
So I have set many (many many many) goals in my life. And I’ve tried to Aim High. Just a few of them:
I want to run a marathon.
I want to get a graduate degree.
I want to lose 20 lbs.
I want to retire early and comfortably.
I have planned how to accomplish these goals. I have visualized myself reaching them. I KNOW I can do it. I have The Will To Succeed.
I can set a gradual training schedule for my running, increasing at attainable distances each week. I can easily see myself crossing that finish line someday!
I can take some online classes to work toward my degree, then go back to school when the kids are a bit older and more independent. I can't wait to add that PhD after my name!
I can eat smaller portions, cut out most refined sugars, and exercise more (see marathon training plan). I've been that weight before, so I know I can do it again!
I can live moderately now and contribute to my IRA and invest as much as possible. We have so many great plans for retirement, so it will be worth it in the end!
Yes, I have the plans in place. And I have The Will To Succeed.
So why am I not reaching these goals? Why, in fact, am I no closer to reaching them now than I was 5 years ago?
The other day, as I was listening to General Conference, I finally discovered my answer. During Elaine Dalton’s talk, one little quote brought the whole thing into perspective for me:
“As the marathon runner Juma Ikanga said after winning the New York Marathon, "The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare."
The Will To Prepare!? What’s that? Isn’t having a plan and The Will To Succeed enough?
Apparently not. Without The Will To Prepare, all my planning and lofty goals are going to get me nowhere.
Without The Will To Prepare, I’m probably not going to get up each morning to go on that run, no matter how badly I want to run a marathon.
Without The Will To Prepare, I’m going to continue to make excuses about being too busy right now to take online classes – I’ll do it later.
Without The Will To Prepare, I will convince myself that another scoop of Mora’s ice cream won’t really make all that much of a difference. I can always make it up by eating less tomorrow, and c’mon – it’s Mora’s!
Without The Will To Prepare, it is just too easy to justify spending money on that great vacation/new TV/fancy dinner. I mean, heck, I’ve got a long time until retirement.
This may be a “Duh!” idea to most people, but it was an “Ah-ha!” moment for me. I feel like I have a new focus for my life. I can still Aim High, but now I'll spend much more time focusing on the incremental MEANs of the goal, rather than merely longing for the distant ENDs.
2 comments:
Did they say how one find the will for the Will to prepare? just curious. til then...i'll keep looking. :)
Uh, yeah. I have to say, as much as running that half-marathon sucked (me + 20,000 other runners + 20,000 spectators = panic attack), actually getting up and making myself train every freaking day was really, really hard.
But I did it. I am telling myself that all of that effort is why my health has stabilized, too. I need to be able to take something away from the experience, since after running 25-30 miles/week for most of the year, I have lost exactly TWO POUNDS.
Anyway -- try a half-marathon first. Have you looked at the training schedule for a full marathon? Do you have time (or the energy) to run twenty miles every Sunday?
Good luck with whatever you decide to prepare for. :-)
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