Is it ever okay to give up on a goal?
Back at the end of May, I signed up to run my first half marathon this fall. I'd just come off of a highly successful fitness challenge (tied for first) and was looking for a new goal to keep my momentum going. Running a half marathon seemed like a great idea at the time.
But then summer rolled in, complete with slow mornings, long days at the beach and late nights around the campfire. The wine was plentiful; the running, not so much. In fact, I can count the number of times I ran in July on one finger (and if I let my aching body choose the finger, it would probably pick the middle one).
So now I find myself staring at the August calendar, trying to quell the sense of dread forming in my stomach. Because August is already half over, which means I have less than a month to prepare myself for this race. And, quite realistically, it feels like an impossible task.
A half marathon is 21.1 kilometers (or, for my American friends, 13.1 miles). This morning, it took me 36 minutes to run 5 km (about 3 miles). Even if I commit to serious training over the next few weeks, it's extremely unlikely that I'll be able to finish the race in under three hours. To put this in perspective, most runners aim to finish a half marathon in under two hours. The average finish time for a woman of my age is about two hours and twenty minutes. I won't even be close.
But if I switched to running the 10 km race instead, and spent the next few weeks training for that, I know I could do pretty well. And I'd probably have a hell of a lot more fun.
So that's the dilemma -- do I stick to my original goal, knowing I'll only be able to half-ass it at this point and finish with an at-best mediocre time? Or do I change my goal to one that I'm confident I can achieve with above average (or at least average) results?
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What do you do when your goals no longer make sense?
Knowing when to revise -- or even give up on -- a goal is something that I've struggled with numerous times, not just in terms of fitness, but in all areas of life. As a writer, I usually start new projects with big dreams and lofty ideas. And most of the time, when I set goals that seem beyond my reach, I end up achieving more than I thought possible. It's always good to challenge ourselves to do more than we think we can.
But sometimes life gets in the way, or our priorities change, or we realize that the goals we'd originally set are no longer viable. And that's when we must decide whether to stick with it anyway, revise it to a more realistic target, or let it go.
Sometimes, seeing a goal through to the end is worthwhile because it allows you to set a benchmark for future progress. For example, if I stick with the half marathon, I'll end with a personal best to beat next year.
However, there are also times when the benefits of following through on a goal simply aren't worth the costs. And it isn't just your time and energy you're giving up; you also have to consider the opportunity cost of passing up other possibly more rewarding challenges.
I've mentioned several times on this blog that I'm working on my first novel. About a year ago, I also started a personal blog -- redhens.ca. And then last April, I joined Steemit. I set specific goals for each of these projects: numbers of words, numbers of posts, numbers of followers. In some cases, I've blown my original goals out of the water; in others, I've made little to no progress.
And now, as with my running goals, I find myself at an impasse. Do I continue to divide my writing time between these three projects? Do I revise my writing targets to be more achievable? Or do I let go of one (or two) of these in order to focus on achieving the goals I've set for the third?
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As I write this, I remain undecided. But of this I am certain: no matter what decision I make, I will make it guilt free. It's okay to change our goals, or even to let them go. Doing so doesn't mean that we're quitters; it simply means that we have enough self-awareness to know when to cut our losses or make room for new, even better goals.
And that, my friends, is a life goal I'm happy to achieve.
Have you ever set a goal you've had to change along the way? How did you feel? What were your results?
yes! You should change that running goal asap!! I'm into being realistic, so changing a goal based on current realities...yes, please!
It certainly makes me feel good if I stick to a goal and achieve it - that feeling of satisfaction is perhaps why we set goals to begin with - to get that great feeling of accomplishment. But I don't think I've ever beat myself up too much for not attaining something (that's what rationalizations are for!)