Ever wondered why most resolutions start from the first day of the year, month or week?
This question had never occurred to me until I read about it in Robin Sharma’s self-help fiction book, The 5am Club. Robin explains that when it comes to the first day of a year, month or week or even first day at university or your new job, there is an enhanced sense of optimism which comes from an opportunity to make a fresh start and a chance to make something right.
That resonated with me really well.
I am a marathoner. I use present tense here despite the fact that my last marathon was five years ago. I still consider myself a marathoner as that is how I behave and that is how my lifestyle is. I strive really hard to run as often as I can and record my weekly mileage and all that jazz. The thing I haven’t done for the last few years is, race.
It has been on my mind to correct that. I often say that am still a runner who is not in a racing mindset. And, I want to correct that. What I need to do to remedy the situation is start by building up the miles; week after week. Once after I build some base, start speed training, do longer runs and build up to a race. Speaking loosely that is.
However, over the last few years a bunch of things have changed. Working from home has lead to a loss of routine which has led to irregularity in my weekly runs. I have been so irregular that my weekly goals and targets are more defensive than they have ever been.
Now a days, every Monday, I resolve to put in at least 7 runs through the following week. I do a run on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday. Then, life happens. I grow irate and the following Sunday, resolve to put in at least 7 runs again the following week with a fairly similar outcome that follows.
What Robin Sharma said in his book is true. There is an elevated sense of optimism, hope and positivity on the first day of the week. But, how should I handle the situation when results are discouraging week after week. Should I stop making a resolution? Should I give up on the idea of racing again? These have been my questions when I hit a low point.
I haven’t cracked the code yet. However, taking a cue from the book, what I have decided to do, is, start every Monday with the same resolve until I achieve the goal. Start with the same optimism and take motivation from the opportunity that a new week presents without focusing on the previous weeks when the goal wasn’t met. And, more importantly, and I think this is the clincher, take as many Mondays as I need. This is going to be my way of staying persistent.
When I will race again, I will write another post about this very idea of taking as many Mondays as you need to start over as many times as you need as that is a sign of being persistent.
Let me see how many Mondays I take…
We all have some aspects about ourselves and our lifestyles that gives a fresh start, we an opportunity to relive, would love to change. However the grind of daily routine sometimes doesn’t offer us the opportunity. If you feel the same way about something in your life just like how I feel about my running, I would highly encourage you to back your self and give yourself as many starts as your need.
