The Power of Working Towards a Goal.
Last year I signed up to run a marathon. This was something I never thought I could do or something I thought I would ever want to do. But after completing my first half marathon the year before, and knowing a couple of friends had run a full marathon I changed my mind. With the encouragement from a friend of mine during a difficult time, I took up the challenge which completely changed my life for the better.
I want to share some of the key benefits I found in having a goal to work towards:
It gave me a new focus. I was going to need to train if I was going to run 26 miles. That meant a lot of running and a lot of miles even before the actual marathon. In total I ran 333.3 miles during my training and with each step I felt myself healing from past hurts. I felt like I was running towards something new and I was learning to let go of the things that I couldn’t control or change.
It gave me motivation. With so much training to do I also needed to get stronger mentally and physically and I had a solid reason to prioritise my health. I joined a gym, signed up to as many classes as I could and eventually hired a PT to learn how to lift weights and build confidence in the gym. I wasn’t drinking and I gave up processed sugar for the final 8 weeks of training which made a big difference to my gains in the gym and energy levels. Seeing these changes was big motivation.
It gave me perseverance. As the training increased, so did the distances I had to run, and the longer the runs became the more I wasn’t sure I could do it. But I showed up and I showed myself that I could. Of course, there were weeks where things didn’t go to plan, or I felt disappointed with my time or like it was just too hard. But through those challenges I learned how to pick myself back up and push through; to persevere.
Leading up to the marathon I would picture what it would feel like to cross the finish line and be able to say “I am a marathon runner.” I think that’s what we all need in life sometimes – goals that give us pictures of our future selves we want to run towards.
In Philippians 3:13 in The Passion Translation it says: “however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.” I love the way this scripture is worded here. It’s a beautiful example of how we can use goals to fasten our hearts to the future version of ourselves, and let go of anything in the past that needs to be left behind.
So my question to you is, what goal are you running towards? You can check out the Temple plans to help you achieve it.