I’ve been thinking about two things today…my progress towards financial freedom and the half-marathon I’ll be running in September with my best friend. Let’s be clear: I’ve never run anything like this before. The length of the race is only 13.1 miles, but sometimes it feels like it may as well be 1,300 because the actual distance is a bit overwhelming for somebody like me. As a result, I’ve been asking myself something all day: how do I actually accomplish this fitness goal?
The Planning Process
Even though I’ve never done it before, I actually believe that I can do it...somehow. I mean others have done it before me, and I’m not in that bad of shape. Perhaps the first question to ask is whether I’m willing to do it. My will is the key. I have to decide that it’s what I want to accomplish. So step one to achieving a goal is to write down what I want, which is, in this case, to run a half marathon in September. Check. That was easy!
The next step is to evaluate where I’m at right now by collecting some information. What am I eating? How far am I running? What’s missing from my exercise routine? Do I get enough sleep? If I don’t know the answers to these questions, I need to keep a log book where I record my behavior. The key here is to be brutally honest. Guessing or “fudging the numbers”, so that I look like I’m doing better than I actually am, will only hurt me in the end. I have to accept where I am right now. It’s the quickest and most effective way to improve my situation.
The third step is to create a plan to reach my goal by deciding what I need to do between now and September to be able to complete the half-marathon. Fourth step: Just Do It (the plan)! The last step is to periodically re-evaluate my progress and make adjustments to my plan so I stay on track.
If you haven’t already guessed, these five steps can also be applied to my financial situation. It’s called the financial planning process. Easy right? Well, it’s certainly easy to talk about, but like most things in life, it’s easier said than done.
Overcoming Obstacles
With anything, however, there will be bumps along the way. Let’s go back to the half-marathon. I already know I have several challenges to overcome if I’m going to complete all 13.1 miles in a timely manner. One barrier will be keeping my motivation up to train and eat right each day. Like anything, the daily grind can get old after awhile! One idea I have to stay motivated is to reward myself when I reach smaller goals, as long as they do not set me back in my progress. Another strategy that helps me is to hold myself accountable to another person for my choices. That’s where my best friend comes in. If she knows what I am working on and when my deadlines are then she can follow up with me and keep me honest. Sometimes just the idea of telling another person that I didn’t do what I was supposed to do is sufficient motivation to just do it!
Another challenge to my success is that I’ve never done something like this. I have some general ideas about what I need to do but no specifics. I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to fitness and health. I need to educate myself, plain and simple. Luckily, I already know other people who have done this before who I can glean insight from. I can learn from their mistakes! In addition, there are plenty of resources at my finger tips on the Internet, in the library, etc. where I can learn more. In reality, ignorance isn’t actually a good long-term excuse here!
The last challenge that I’ve thought about is time; however, if I really value accomplishing this goal, then I will spend the required amount of time no matter what comes up. On the other hand, it’s easy to spend my time and resources on other things, often unintentionally. This is definitely going to require some self-discipline. I will have to plan my time so that I accomplish the most critical things first. Also, I can’t try to do it all. Some things will undoubtedly fall by the wayside, but if I do it right, the most important things will get done, and I won’t care that I’m not doing the other things.
More to come…
This post will actually come in three parts. In the next post, I will be sharing some of my financial goals and re-evaluating where I am financially (steps 1 and 2 from above). The third post will include strategies for how I plan to accomplish those goals. I will also address specific challenges to my progress and offer ideas on how to overcome them (step 3).
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