Revisiting Goals

I'm a Type A Virgo. This means I'm very motivated by setting and achieving goals. This fits in very neatly with my professional life as a fundraiser. For the past 8+ years, I have a set of metrics I need to achieve, and I go after it. Most times I make it, sometimes I don't, but it's a great measurement and motivational tool.

Of course, I try to apply this to my personal life as well. A big goal I've been working on this year is being healthier. Of course, goals need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. So on New Year's Eve, I translated it into getting minimum 20 minutes of exercise a day. It started out as a challenge to see how many days I could go straight. I made 49. Not bad for starters!

Then in March, one of my fellow Jr. League board members shared her outlook. She works to be active 300 days a year. I thought that wasn't bad, especially since by then I'd missed a few days. 65 days off is realistic. So that became my new goal.

As the year progressed, and I took on new responsibilities in my volunteer life, I made some further adjustments. 15 minutes was the new minimum (what equals a Weight Watchers activity point), and I started allowing walks across campus to meetings and errands count if it totaled that or more.

Then I had my toe injury on July 4. I had to be OK with accumulating a lot of days towards that 65 for a while.

So here we are with 2 months left in the year. I'm at 60 days off. I don't think 5 days off for the rest of the year is reasonable (though I will still try!) so have decided maybe 75 would do. Still not bad compared to other years, I am sure.

Another specific goal I find I'm having to tweak is to run a 10k by the end of the year. When I set that goal on New Year's, I didn't know I was going to be asked to serve on the Jr. League board this year, a role I love but does take some of my time I might have used for training (or more likely, playing online!). The leadership experience I am gaining is worth the trade off. I didn't know I was going to have the injury. I didn't think about the days where sometimes, my body just wanted me to rest.

With only the Turkey Trot left in 3.5 weeks and running just half that distance being a challenge right now, I may be revisiting this goal as well. I am rediscovering a love for walking. I'm not saying I'm giving up running, but I may put this distance on hold. If I can get back into the swing of good, regular activity (not just the 15 minute walks across campus), maybe I will train for a distance walk, like the Avon 3-Day Breast Cancer one in April. Then I could tackle the longer runs again.

I think the biggest thing I have learned is that it is OK to change your goals based on what happens along the way. That it doesn't represent defeat, but rather, growth in self-awareness. And that's a goal I didn't even set out to accomplish.