today represents a number of firsts; first day of the new week, first of the month, first day of the second half of 2013 and, in Australia at least, first day of a new financial year.
so it’s got a bit of a “fresh start”, start-of-a-new-cycle, new year-ish type feel about it – well, for me anyway.
fresh starts are always helpful
I love finding natural breaks like this, they give a chance to reflect on what has gone before, celebrate small victories and acknowledge where things have panned out slightly differently to what you had hoped.
they also represent a starting point, a chance to draw a line in the sand, an opportunity to regroup and push on with renewed vigour.
that way, we don’t get bogged down with accumulated “failures” . we also reduce the risk of simply basking in the sunshine, gloating at our successes and resting on our laurels.
both cases are dangerous and can completely scupper any project of any kind. it is especially dangerous though for a personal development project where we always need to guard against the comfort of familiarity.
so let’s celebrate a kind of new year together
personally speaking, I don’t do “new year’s resolutions”, haven’t done so for a couple of decades now. I’m not about to start again now with a mid-year resolution.
however, what we are talking about here is not about committing to something new, it’s a progression of the current work in progress, fine-tuning, adjusting, recalibration.
and the timing for me is perfect – the marathon is done and there’s a huge danger in allowing myself to bask in that. at the same time, I already have a new goal of the perth tough mudder in october.
so that’s my line in the sand; the marathon belongs to history, the tough mudder belongs to the future, and the present is all about the new training schedule.
stepping stones towards the new goal
my plan is a simple one – 3 weeks before tough mudder I will run in the Fremantle half marathon. to get to that point I will follow an intermediate half marathon schedule.
along the way (week 2 of the schedule) I will run the Fremantle 10km fun run again (returning to the scene of my first long run event)
so how about you? what needs to be put behind you right now? what will become your new focus?
it can be small or huge, but one thing’s for sure, this is a great opportunity to take stock, readjust and then fasten your seatbelts for the next part of your journey!
