Are You On Target?

The timid and fearful first failures dismay,
but the stout heart stays trying by night and by day.
He values his failures as lessons that teach,
The one way to get to the goal he would reach.
Edgar A. Guest

Its been almost five weeks since I ran the Detroit Free Press Marathon and lately I have found myself in a very odd place. Unmotivated! They say this happens for marathon runners. Its called the post-marathon blues. After completing nine marathons I have had some of this post 'depression' happen before but just not to this extent. I just don't feel like doing much and it is very difficult to expend any energy to go out and run a few miles. Its quite a change from four weeks ago, when I looked forward to running ten or eleven miles. Now, its difficult to feel motivated to run three miles, let alone go out and do much of anything. When you are training and disciplining yourself for an intense eighteen weeks toward finishing a marathon, when the marathon is over, you wake up with 'nothing' to do! Weeks and weeks of staying and keeping yourself motivated toward that big day have been so ingrained into your psyche, when its over, a foggy like depression seems to overcome your mind.

As I have journeyed through these last few weeks, I have been searching my mind and examining these feelings. It has come to my attention the importance and value of a goal. How the mind works and the necessity of working toward a 'fixed' destination. Elbert Hubbard said, "Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal." It's not that people don't have the potential, but most do not take the time to set concrete goals. Though they idealize where they want to go, they do not take the time to truly mark their course toward a certain destination.

Since I began running marathons, and as long as the Lord tarries and affords me the blessings of good health, I have set it in my heart to run at least one marathon a year. Through this small event of life, I am able to get a larger than life snapshot of the power of goal setting. Long before I commit myself to train for a marathon, I am already pondering the 'best' time to commit my energies. When I finally commit to train, I write out my entire training plan on a calender. "Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner." (Les Brown) Here I can 'see' my entire eighteen week schedule toward my goal of completing a twenty-six mile run. There is something about marking 'Race Day' on the calendar. From the pen to the mind, a vision is set in your heart that transcends the moment. There is a truth that knowing your destination is half the journey. From that moment on I know where I am going, but more importantly, I know how I am going to get there! Jim Valvano said, "How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal and you have to be willing to work for it."

What is our life without goals and not just any goals, but concrete purposeful goals. Aristotle said, "Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals." I know we hold certain dreams and hopes in our minds of where we would like to be or become, but there is more to obtaining than just wishing it to come to pass. "No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto." (W. Clement Stone) With a proper vision, and your heart set, you must work to achieve your goal with a tenacity of a pit bull. Your vocabulary must change. Your work ethic must change. Your energy must be funneled away from waste and into what will help you to achieve your goal. "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help with man with the wrong mental attitude." (W. W. Ziege)

Its time we get off our bed of ease and begin to really contemplate where we are heading and then decide if we really want to go there. This requires examination and honesty, which is a difficult task, because it is within our own nature to deceive ourselves. The world has us busy and keeps us busy, but what are we busy about? Is it quality energy propelling us toward our goals, or is it empty energy spent toward some vague point in the distant future? Mary O'Connor said it this way, "It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted." We must move with purpose and the only way to move with purpose is to create a target worth shooting for! "If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's ok. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot." (Robert Townsend)

Zig Ziglar said, "Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission." What is YOUR mission? What are your goals? Today its time to take some time to contemplate and examine yourself. Don't rely on others to dictate or create your life's goals. Don't allow yourself to be deceived into believing your life is not worth the pursuit of something beyond the statistical many who live without a vision. "Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you're alive, it isn't." (Richard Bach) Today...as a matter of fact...right NOW...get out that piece of paper and begin to draw the target of your dreams. You may be surprised at what you come up with!