Goal Setting and the Mindset of the Marathoner

Goal Setting Ideas for 2011: Running a Marathon and the Mindset of a Marathoner

There is nothing more powerful than a great idea whose time has come.

Someone else has the goal of helping you achieve your goal. Mark Victor Hansen. In other words the universe wants you to complete your goal.

Goal choices are more important than abilities. See below.

Focus on completion rather than perfection.

Goal Setting a la Tony Robbins: There are three kinds of goals

1—Minimum Must: No matter what this goal will be achieved. In our case finishing the race would probably be a must.

2—Goal: this is where most people start, usually with a time goal

3—Stretch Goal: maybe qualifying for another race based on your performance.

You do not have to believe you can achieve a goal to set a goal. So even if you don’t believe in your “core” that you can finish a marathon set the goal anyway.

You don’t have to believe you can run a marathon to set a goal to run a marathon. If you develop the Mindset of a Marathoner you will be able to act “as if” you can. Think about what actions you would take if you were a Marathoner.

In my talks prior to marathons I usually tell the audience to walk around the week before their event “as if” they are proudly hanging their finishers medal from their neck. Acting “as if” you have already done something helps to accomplish the goal.

Goal Setting is a 10 step PROCESS

1—Think about what you want and write it down.

2—Decide exactly what you want and write it down. This is where goal setting begins. Choosing the right goal is important here.

3—Look at your goal and make sure it is measurable. Running and finishing a marathon or half marathon are indeed measurable in more ways that finishing time.

4—Identify the reasons why you want the goal and write them down. Think back to the reasons you first joined FBF. Some want to lose weight, some want to achieve fitness, some want to do it as a tribute to someone else important in their lives, etc. Naturally the more internal the reason the more powerful it is in terms of motivation.

5—Decide an exact date you want to accomplish your goal and write it down. This is easy since running events have deadlines.

6—Make a list of action steps and write them down. Again here comes the Mindset of a Marathoner concept. If you were a marathoner what steps would you take to insure you would be ready to finish a marathon. Steven Covey talks about beginning with the end in mind.

7—Create a plan from your list of action steps and write it down. One of these simply could be to follow the FBF training plan.

8—Take ACTION. As the Nike commercial says Just Do It!! If this is difficult see your local sport psychologist ;)

9—Do something every day; follow your FBF training plan.

10—View, Visualize, and speak your goals daily. I have said it many times in talks to running groups that visualization is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. If nothing else, visualization shows that you have done something before.

Lastly, it is ok to set a goal and not achieve it. If you set a goal and don’t achieve it don’t look at that as a failure. What it means is you picked the wrong goal. Goal choice is critical in the process. Simply go back through the 10 step process and refine your goals.