Big goals help you achieve small ones

In 2022 I ran a half marathon. 

I injured my foot during training and I had to get an x-ray. I was tired and hungry all the time for two and a half months. My hips locked up for a year afterward, and I had to take a special stretching class to regain mobility. I got 2,519th place with a time that doesn’t impress anybody. 

Yet I’m so glad I ran it.

Why? 

In the years prior to running the half marathon, I struggled to keep a consistent exercise routine. I liked the feeling of running longer distances, but it took me a long time to work up the courage to run four or five miles. Each time I finally did, the mental and physical toll was great. I was sore for a week, my joints hurt, my lungs burned, and I was too exhausted to run again anytime soon afterward. 

After I ran the half marathon, I unlocked something: the ability to run four or five miles whenever I felt like it. The grind of training in the winter broke down my mental barriers. I gathered a large body of evidence proving that even if I was tired, cold, and sore, I could still get outside and run. 

A few years ago, whenever someone asked if I was a runner, I couldn’t really say yes. Now, it’s true. I’m a runner. I’ve taken on that identity. 

Here’s the lesson: if you desire a certain lifestyle or identity, but keep failing to achieve it, stop trying. Stop trying to merely achieve the lifestyle you want. Instead, set a short term goal that far exceeds your desired lifestyle. Go full tilt beyond what you want. As a result of training for an outlandish goal that you have no business achieving, you’ll finally gain the ability to be consistent with the lifestyle you really want.