Big & Little Goals

How to Pick Your Goals

Goals are great to have. We all have goals. Some are big and seemingly unreasonable; some are tiny and seemingly insignificant. Well, allow me to tell you that no matter how insignificant or extravagant you think they are they don’t differ in importance. Goals big and little can help us achieve greatness.

The big goals in our lives, the ones often laden with childhood like innocent fantasy, can provide the framework for us to create goals that are possibly more attainable. Fantasy is beautiful because it shows us where our natural tendencies are. I love to work with my clients to dream about their wildest fantasies and to create a goals based off of them.

My childhood fantastical dream was about being indestructible. I idolized rock stars like Elvis and Jim Morrison, who lived long after they died. I loved Superman and Thor more than Batman, Spiderman and Achilleas, because Superman and Thor had an indestructible make up(or basically indestructible make up. Let’s not get into the nuances of super hero).  

These fantasies gave me the foundation to seek out running an Ironman. I felt like the Ironman race was one that exemplified an indestructible athlete. It may not actually be, but my mental construct about the race complimented my early childhood fantasy of being indestructible. If I could become an Ironman, then part of my inner innocent childhood extravagance would be satisfied and fulfilled.

What are your big, wild goals. Maybe you liked spider man more? If so, maybe Ninja Warrior or Spartan races may be more your thing. I don’t know what you will arrive at, but I do know that your wildest dreams are worth exploring. I love doing this with people. Helping someone to arrive at a tangible goal is one of the most exciting parts of the 4-phase model of Integrity Endurance TM.

Now, the small goals. The small, seemingly insignificant goals are no less important. Some people may even argue they’re more important. These are the goals that help us get to the larger ones. If we don’t have these then we can’t get to those. But my argument is if we don’t have those big ones then we also may not have reason to make the smaller ones. In my opinion, and experience, neither big nor small goals should be disregarded and discredited. They both have their place, it’s just about finding out how to place them correctly in our lives.

I use the big goals to drive my small goals. But I concentrate on the small goals on a daily basis. I only use the larger goals when my small goals lose focus. Allow me to explain.

On my journey to Ironman I had to learn three things and how to do those three things for long distances. I had to learn to swim, bike, and to run. If I knew these things then I knew I would be able to put them together for the race. So, each day I practiced swimming or biking or running and worked on small goals. For instance, swimming 100 yards at a time and building up to 500 yards then 1000 and then a mile. Then it was about speed. Little small goals got me there to where I could swim nearly as far as I wanted at a good pace. When I got to the spot I could swim a mile or more without struggle, I lost focus, I thought I was there. With my small goal achieved, I lost focus of the larger one. In believing I had it made I nearly drowned during my first triathlon. Sure, I had learned how to swim the distance, but I didn’t learn to do it in the context of the larger goal. I had learned to swim, but I had no clue how to triathlon swim.

Based on your larger goal, you set smaller ones. When those smaller goals seem to get out of focus you use your larger goals to bring them back together. It can be helpful to have a coach help you with this. I know it helped me. I have a tendency to think I’m the shit. For instance, my coach caught me on the treadmill one day as I was ego power driving through a workout. He said, “I thought I had you scheduled for an easy run?” I said back in my big ego, “I am! I can easily run this pace for the distance that you put on the plan.” He looked at me and laughed, “yes, dummy, but can you keep that pace for the entire run portion of the triathlon? You need to learn to run at varying paces, you can’t always be in a sprint.” This was an invaluable lesson for me, without him, I would have had to walk the rest of the race. I was learning how to run and to run well but he helped me to focus it on the larger context of the triathlon.    

The moral of the story is use your goals and allow the big to guide the small and the small to reach the big. Have fun with it. Make a story out of it. Who knows, one day you may be sitting on the porch helping your son or daughter reach for their own stars and one day, they may actually land on of those celestial mysteries. Shoot for it!

Much Love,

Mark