Setting Goals and Running: A Management Perspective

So, what’s the connection; you ask… You will be surprised!

Here’s the thing, our mind has an exceptional ability to create habits in a jiffy; literally! Today if you create a routine, it will become quickly a thoughtless action! Just like brushing your teeth twice or putting your left shoe on before your right one or having peanut butter and jam every morning….

I have always been an exercise buff, right from my childhood, so much so that I was the local go-to guy if anyone wanted to start doing natural exercises like roman rings, parallel bars, floor exercises and stuff like pull-ups, push-ups etc… But running is relatively new to me, by “new” I mean I have been running regularly for only the last five years now. Earlier, when I was doing my exercise routines, I could set my pace, set my goals, even daily incrementally increasing goals, and then over a period of time, I could see myself doing say a few more sets of 100 push-ups, 75 pull-ups, 1000 squats, etc… I could also change my routine; like it is done at the gym these days, first concentrate exercises for only your arms, then only your legs, then your crunches, etc; And yes, I WAS making progress…

SHORT-TERMS GOALS:

But running is very different! I’ll tell you how. I used to run in this beautiful jogging park (I still do) that had a wonderful soft dirt track and beautiful flowers growing along the way, throughout the seasons and also had a small community of runners and walkers exchanging warm greetings every day. Initially, I used to set daily goals of number of rounds per day, (three rounds were equal to 1 km) and go for it! It was great fun… initially; and then monotony set in! I was able to do 5 km with more difficulty after 2 years than when I began. And funnily, the body started complaining of breathing rhythm not being right, knee joint paining as I was taking sharper turns at the rounds in the small park… and what not. I fell into my own trap of routine! And as the days went bye, the runs became tougher. Then I made a rhythm for my breathing based on the light poles in the park; 15-16 steps between poles. Yes, this helped, but the runs were no easier in a few days, again. My speed would also not increase.

At work as well, if you set out to make daily goals, by breaking down your annual number (if you are in sales like I have always been!) then you are putting undue pressure on yourself! You are going to get caught in the daily rhythm so much, that you will not enjoy the journey anymore, not even notice the flowers on the side of your track!

INTERMITTENT GOALS:

And one day a friend of mine invited me to a run in the park where he was running regularly, (each round was a kilometer long) and then, I found my groove again! I was running at least 8 rounds per run, with ease! I became conscious of my new surroundings (even saw a snake cross the path one day!) and I was loving it all over again! Then guess what? In a few months, the whole monotony set in, yet again. This time as well, I made the mental calculation of the cadence between the poles again (about 22) and kept my breathing in check so at least THAT is not a problem once more. But, as we are programmed in our brain to become very quickly accustomed to the same routine, it did not work anymore. I tried shifting my goal a little more distant into the future. I would now see how I did incremental improvements on a weekly basis. But the 8 rounds never became 10 or 12, they stayed painfully stagnant at 8. My speed was not going anywhere as well, in fact, I started running slower now than when I was in the small park.

MEDIUM-TERMS GOALS:

Very soon (and as the frequency of me getting into the rut of boredom was getting shorter and shorter); I set up another goal for myself; this time a larger circle that was about 2.5 km per round near my house; but again, as my brain would have it, this was not a long terms solution either; as I soon realized. I would go back to my routine of lesser cadence of the park; but keep my focus on the longer circle still. So I was just hedging my boredom to a slightly longer round or monotony. My weekly goal setting helped my just for a few weeks, then tapered off again.

In work as well, if we are moving from a daily goal setting to a weekly one, it DOES help, but still the rhythm is not going to bring in fresh energy, enthusiasm and creativity after some time. You need to go for larger goal setting. In management terms this is called a BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal or WIG – Wildly Important Goal. This is where; broadly; you take an oath of sorts, and state where you are today, where you want to go, and by what time-frame.

So how do we keep things exciting and challenging but at the same time, not prone to monotony? I soon discovered it just because I was so damn persistent! I had the answer.

SHIFTING GOALS:

Now I go out every day prepared that I am going to better my last run in terms of speed and distance; that is a given; (my weekly or short-term goal maybe?); but overall, I KNOW I will be going to run a 50 km distance in 6 months’ time! So, what route do I take every day? The answer is; no fixed route. There you have it! I move out into the big wild world ready for another adventure going through places I have not necessarily gone before or go regularly through but knowing that I am going to make this approach, a regular feature going forward. Today, I did a round that was 4.7 km per circle, next week I am going to go for one that is going to be about 6 km, and then 8 km, and this will continue to increase every week!

CONCLUSION:

What makes for successful people; and even teams in an organisation; or even an organization itself; is first KNOWING what that big goal is you are trying to achieve, and every time picking some new dimension, new angle, new road to explore how you can achieve it. Keeping the energy and excitement intact! Sure, you may find that sometimes, you have bitten more than you can chew, or you are digressing from the goal, or your shoes (tools) are not right, but every once in a while; just as your body tells you that you may not yet be ready for that particular activity or road; you may have to turn around and come back to the starting point to do it right the next time round.

At work as well, you must have the necessary checks and balances that would make sure you do not go astray, or at least not lose sight of your BHAG or WIG! Keep weekly reviews or discussion and exchange of ideas and experiences on the new things you have tried and what you have learnt form it, and them either get vindicated, or corrected. Life is a run, make it as interesting as you can, and you will not just enjoy it in the short, medium and intermittent; but in the long term as well!