Sunday 29 April 2018

Commitment



"I don't feel like it ... it's too hot, it's cold ... I'm tired, I can't be bothered" ... it's so easy not to. This is how it starts ... the beginning of the end -  the thin end of a wedge of tomorrows  until tomorrow never comes. Your mind and body adapt quite quickly to conditions so beware the downward spiral of the less you do the less you feel like doing.

A fish rots from the head down 

So much of this is in the mind ... to get things done ... use your mind as a motivator, commit and make a start and the more you do the more you feel like doing - get on an upward spiral.


“Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”  ~ Benjamin Franklin

Lace up your trainers and go ... you can only do so much preparation and planning - make a start, adapt and adjust along the way. 

The conditions for every run cannot be perfect, in fact they rarely ever are ... its the way of the world that not all the signs are aligned at the same time and you have to make do with what you have - this is what makes a life and life is what you make it.

Sometimes its best to leave the mind out of it and get into a routine so its something that you just do ...  going running every Saturday afternoon for example means that you organise around the running. Be careful not to let the routine become a rut for when a pleasure becomes a habit its no longer a pleasure - just use the routine to get you started and commitment as a way to argue why not rather than why.

Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” 
 ~ Roy T. Bennett,

There have been plenty of times when I've made up my mind to run and just gone, using the commitment and the impulse as motivation and many of these runs have been the best experiences and the most memorable. Its been really cold with ice on the ground and snow falling ... I've thought ... lets give it a go - I've had to adapt and change routes along the way due to the cold but runs like this are a different experience. Its been hot, cold raining and I've not felt like it but quite often I think its better to have run than not to have run at all. You can learn a lot this way ... if you don't do it you will never know and you will never learn ... for example how to deal with the heat and better prepare for it or that rain when you are running is nowhere as bad as you might think it is .. in fact it can be quite nice :)

Give it a go, make up your mind, make a commitment so that you persuade yourself why not rather than why. 


It isn't enough to pick a path - you must go down it.
~ Ed Catmull


"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
 ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson




Friday 2 February 2018

Imagine Have Vision


I don't mean become an armchair athlete and imagine running ... I'm talking about those times when you don't feel like running and are looking for excuse to hit the armchair instead - imagine what its like to run to get yourself in the mood. When I'm looking for excuses not to go for a run I visualise running that ridge or remember the enjoyment of running certain routes - the wind in my hair, the sun on my face, even the feel of the cold of a winters day run across frosty fields.

“A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.” ~ Rosabeth Moss Kanter

But 

"Vision without action is merely a dream." 
~ Joel A. Barker

When the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak use your imagination to get motivated, put mind over matter, imagine where you want to go, put on your trainers and go there ... before you change your mind :)

"Don't dream it, be it" 
~ Rocky Horror Picture Show ("Fanfare/Don't Dream It")

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” 
~ Warren G. Bennis

The full quote from Joel Barker is

"Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world." 

So many of us just pass the time .. acting without vision following the herd.

"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" ~ Pink Floyd (Time

Vision helps give life meaning ... it gives direction and purpose ... its a guide for choosing current and future courses of action - it provides a filter to separate what's important from what's not.

Without vision obstacles and setbacks can seem like roadblocks and the end of the road. Vision gives direction ... not a detailed plan to follow - if one way is blocked then try another.

Vision should motivate not dictate ... it's not a detailed plan to follow but a direction.

“Ones vision is not a road map but a compass.” 
~ Peter Block

So ... when you feel you can't be bothered to make an effort to turn your dreams into reality ... remember what Edgar Allan Poe said 


“The best things in life make you sweaty.”