Skip to main content

About goals and failing them.

Earlier this year I made a few goals for myself.  One was to run.  A lot.  The other was to write, a lot more than I have.  Sorry to say I haven’t kept either of these really well.  Sometimes life get in the way, sometimes things don’t work out the way you hoped, sometimes you set the wrong goals and sometimes you just plain fail.  I’d like to say life got in the way and things just happened, but I have to be honest.


Running


Major failures in the running department.  As you can see from the graph below, things were going pretty well for a time.  Right on track.  However, around the 30k per week mark I started to have nagging shin splints.  Not so bad that I was ready to give up running (the proper cure for shin splints) but bad enough I knew I should back off.  So I did, only to later end up with shin splints before during and after every running session.  It was finally bad enough for me to realize I needed to lay it off completely, like you are supposed to.  This resulted in about one 5k run per week.  Now I don’t have a problem with shin splints but I do have this random knee pain which makes me question lacing up my shoes.  That knee pain is still a problem.  Considering it is in only one of two knees and only really flairs up after a run, I’m fairly certain it is a legitimate injury of some sort and needs rest.

Displaying Photo note

Needless to say that my running goals are all on hold for the time being.  My pride is not worth a permanently damaged left knee.  I also won’t be doing a triathlon or any other races this summer for that matter for the vary same reason.   But did I have the right goals in the first place?  

A better goal for a non-competitive “athlete” like myself would be to simply participate in some events and to maintain a healthy lifestyle while doing so.  Pushing yourself to the point of injury is no smart goal, even if it is S.M.A.R.T.  Sure I ran a lot this spring, but I also let myself eat junk and gain weight.  Mix those together and you have a formula for injury.

Writing

If you’ve been following along with blog you'd notice I haven’t posted to this thing in several months (not counting last week' post).  That’s below my minimum goal of one blog post a month and way below my goal of one a week.   

While my excuse here is that I really don’t have time to commit to writing, the truth is that no one has time to commit to writing.  As many people say you have to make time for writing or for any of your other goals for that matter.

I did write a few short stories, rough drafts at least. Writing fiction sounds like a lot of fun to me if not a little challenging.  The actual process of creating characters, plots, scenes and putting words down on paper is a lot of work.  Like most things though, I understand this takes time to learn and to feel comfortable and gain confidence.

I've read quite a few books (which I plan to write about) in the last few months, more than I normally would in a few month span.  I've also been journaling, which I can't say I've ever done with any regularity.  So this goal hasn't been a complete wash.  However, my main, most publicly visible goal of posting to this blog has been an utter failure.

All in all I’ve failed at the goals I set out.  However, I’ve made progress on writing and had some PRs with running.  That’s the beauty of making goals I suppose.  They still add value even if you don’t (or can’t) reach them.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Three Books for Novice Investors

    I have only been seriously investing for about sixth months now.  I say "seriously" because I have attempted to invest for about 5 years but it looked a lot like this ...  So my only successes have been in investing in index funds.  Which If you don't have the time or energy to pick your own investments is the best way to go, in my opinion.       Almost all of my "education" has come through reading a handful of books. The Richest Man In Babylon     The Richest Man in Babylon comes all the way from the deep dark past of 1920's America.  It is series of stories and parables set in ancient Babylon and designed to teach financial wisdom.  The book stresses discipline and prudence, consistently saving, avoiding debt, not investing in risky ventures etc.  I have to wonder if people in the 1920's had taken his advice if the whole financial mess that followed wouldn't have happe...

Lunch time in The Dirty!

    The Dalles has quite a few restaurants relative to it's size.  Some are great some are down right bad.       These are my five favorite places to eat lunch in The Dalles in no particular order.  Some are old favorites and others are relatively new establishments.  All serve delicious food and drink. Montira's Thai     Montira's is the only thai place in town.  But that lack of competition doesn't keep them from delivering a quality product.  Other restaurants of the Asian  variety  have them beat as far as portion size and price go but they  serve  a quality product consistently.  I can't say that about many other places in town.     Montira's serves really great food for a decent price.  Just be warned if you ask for extra-spicy you will feel it all the next day...  But its worth it if you really like spicy. Spooky's     Spooky's is one of t...

Favorite Things: May 2018 Edition

New series of monthly (my intentions at least) things I'm really enjoying... Ride Report Ride Report  is an app which uses your phone's location data to automatically keep track of your bike rides.  For each ride it asks you a simple survey "How was your ride."  After collecting enough survey data from rides Ride Report can generate a map showing the worst and best rides for a city.  Some cities are even using this data to make better transportation decisions.   I'm not sure if this app will work at a smaller scale for a city like The Dalles, but the idea is very cool.  The more people the use it the more helpful it will be.  At this point I've only ever said my rides were great and being the only user in town this is very unscientific. I highly recommend using this app for fun and better city planning or at least better informed fellow cyclists. Libby Libby is an app which allows you to borrow ebooks through your local library....