Give yourself 3 targets

Although I’m taken at the moment with the idea of having no goals at all, I received a note from a friend the other day thanking me for the advice I gave with regards to running a marathon, which resulted in them really enjoying it and having a great sense of achievement.

The advice I gave, which I learned the hard way from running a couple of marathons myself, was to set three targets when it comes to running a marathon.

Your first, and for me your most important, target is to complete it (no attachment to any time target) and, even more importantly, to enjoy the whole experience from start to finish.

If you’ve never run a marathon before, this should probably be your only target. Don’t burden yourself with any specific time targets.

Assuming you’ve run a marathon before, your second target is a finish time that even if things don’t work out perfectly on the day, you believe you should be able to achieve.

Your third target is your best finish time, one that you know you can do based on the training you have completed and assuming that everything goes well.

This is the best that you can expect.

The other key to your three targets is to ensure that you achieve the first target before you move on to the next one.

There is nothing worse than setting yourself only one target and realising, with half a marathon still to go, that you’re not going to achieve your target.

Believe me, I’ve been there. It was 13.1 miles of suffering every step of the way.

The marathon where I set three targets, however, I achieved the first two and was over the moon, planning my next marathon as I walked away wrapped in my foil blanket.

So how can this apply to work and life targets?

Whatever target, or targets, you set yourself, the principle of going the distance at whatever pace and style which allows you to enjoy the whole experience, should be your first, and most important, target.

Don’t go for any other targets until you are achieving that first!