I love to exercise and move my body, and I'm always switching up my routines, sometimes to my own detriment. In my ideal world, every week I would have time and energy for daily yoga, 3 weightlifting sessions, 2 indoor climbing sessions, 4+ morning runs, 3+ day-hikes, daily peloton rides, morning and evening walks, several pickleball games and of course, lots of stretching.
Obviously I don't have the time or energy for all of that.
So setting the goal of running this race in September helps me narrow and prioritize my daily movement. While I'm in training, I focus more on the things that will get me where I want to go, like running, hiking and strength training. Daily yoga might not be realistic, but I can alternate yoga and stretching.
Will I still do the other things? Yes, but not on any sort of regimented schedule.
As counter-intuitive as it may seem, having a goal to work toward gives you direction when it comes to prioritizing and making decisions. Without a clear direction, it’s easy to get lost or sidetracked in daily life. You go a million miles per hour, but end up overwhelmed and spinning your wheels.
When setting a goal for yourself, start small. Begin by thinking about changes you could make today, this week or this month. If you had a goal for this week, what would it be? How could you base all this week's decisions around meeting your goal?