The Next 9 Months…Maintaining Long Term Vision in a Microwave Society
Last Saturday, I sat down and brain dumped where I was going and wanting to go with my running and my long term vision. I wrote it all down in a rough training plan, took a hard look at my own spot with running, and listed out the areas where I could improve. Guys, it felt SO good to just have a simple sketch of where I was going and what I wanted and how I was going to get there. And the one thing I realized (yet, again) is that progress takes time. It isn’t an overnight experience. And especially if I want to reach big goals with my running, I need to practice the art of patience, persistence, and diligence.
I think, in this culture, it is hard to practice long term vision and patience and diligence. It is so easy to get results and things we want, immediately. We want to have it not now, but right now. We want it our way. But, there is something beautiful and magical that I think our society has lost and that’s the beauty of delayed gratification. The work of persistently striving and longing after something and then the joy that comes when it happens – at last.
Surrounding our entire culture and the way we live our lives, we see instant success, instant meals, instant entertainment, etc. And I think part of the struggle with practicing patience (at least for myself) is that we’ve forgotten how to truly work for the results we want. I know that for me, part of my struggle with running and the patience it takes to go from A to B, from PR to PR is the patience and the long term vision it truly does take to get there.
Often times (and this is embarrassing to admit) I do one speed workout or one solid effort run and expect to get to my BQ almost overnight. That may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but you get my example…running or really anything takes diligence, patience, commitment, and drive to get there – it will not all come to you for one day of work that you put it, but rather, thousands.
I think that it is easy, as runners or people in general, to look at other’s wins and see them as an ‘overnight,’ success and forget the countless hours it took for person A or runner A to get to that place in life.
So, as I come back from this injury and am tempted to want to push faster than I should or get to my BQ, tomorrow, I am really trying to focus on long term success – and doing things that will enable me to run, not just tomorrow, but for the rest of my life.
A few ways that I am practicing this long term vision for my running is
- Writing down my 6-12 month goals. I am learning that I HAVE to see my running not in week chunks, but in month long chunks at a time. Instead of focusing on what I want to do this week with training, I am writing out where I want to be in the next three months and then going back from there and focusing on the weekly, daily action steps to get to said goal. I have 3, 6, and 12 months goals that I’ve written out for myself and even this simple step has helped a huge amount. I (we) have to remember that running success and fitness takes time, it will not happen overnight. But, it is the daily, ‘overnight,’ steps that will help us to get to the place we want to go.
- Practicing gratitude. This may seem so basic, too. But, I firmly believe that mindset determines a lot in life. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have or where we want to be, but aren’t quite there yet, focus on where we are, what we do have, and what we can do. Even just a simple shift like this, can make such a difference.
Ultimately, I believe that God is in control and He is always good, no matter what. Whether I am running PR races or injured. And yet, I do know that He is honored when we use our talents and passions for His glory. So, I am keeping the vision and prayerfully, staying diligent. And striving to do my best, knowing that not everything will come together today, but in today, I can choose to keep moving forward, and pressing toward the goal.