Why Purpose Is Important

8 years ago I was asked by my team if I would join them in running a marathon relay. I think they could see the skepticism written all over my face, and they collectively said “it’s only 10k and you have 6 months to get ready, we’ll help, please run with us”.

With a little more pleading I eventually agreed to do it. I wasn’t convinced and although I had agreed to be involved I wasn’t 100% committed.

Over the next month and a half, I started training, within a couple of weeks I was able to run 5k, although it was a struggle. As time went on I found it difficult to make further progress and ultimately I felt that at 51 10k was beyond me.

My team was disappointed, but I assured them my involvement would be more of a burden than a blessing, and that this was best for all concerned.

My team was disappointed but understood and accepted my decision, and completed the race without me, posting a pretty good performance.

The following year, when they were looking for team members they didn't ask me as now a year older, it was clear that it wasn't going to work out.

Shortly after I got the sad news that one of my former colleagues had been diagnosed with cancer, and this was now the 7th person I knew that was suffering, not only from this disease but also from the chemotherapy treatments. I was very sad to hear this and I desperately wanted to do something to help, to show some solidarity.

As I thought about how I could show my support, the only way I could think of was by raising money for charity, but how?

Then it hit me I’d have to run a marathon.

Now my first thought was how on earth was I going to run 42Km, given that I had struggled to run 10k, but I decided to put those thoughts out of my head and just commit to giving it a shot.

I thought about me not wanting to do it, and then I thought that’s not a good enough excuse, my 7 friends didn’t want to be going through chemo, but they had no choice and would find a way.

I started to research different marathon training plans and approaches, to see if there was anything that I thought could help me. I came across the Virgin Marathon training plan which was a simple approach which just started with running 15 mins a day for the first week then increasing the length of time you run by 5–10 mins per week. I wasn't sure whether I could run a marathon, but I was certain I could try and run 5 mins more per week and see where that took me.

Before I was reluctant to get out of bed to train 3 times a week, but now I was driven and happy to be up at 5.45 and out the door running by 6 am and I was doing this 5–6 times a week come rain, hail or snow.

I did it because now I knew why I was running, I was running to help those who couldn't run, those who were going through much tougher struggles, and to whom I wanted to show support.

One of the people who was suffering the most told me that seeing me go run every day gave her the courage to continue with her treatments. When you hear something like that it’s hard to find an excuse as to why not run.

Over the next 6 months, the times and distances increased steadily until on April 28 I ventured to the start line and I successfully completed my first ever marathon. It took me 5hrs and 12 mins.

Many of my friends thought I was crazy to start, my boss told me it would all end in tears.

But I had the power of purpose firing me on.

I knew why I wanted to do this, whom I was doing it for, and I felt how important it was.

Without that feeling, I couldn’t run 10k, but with that understanding, I was able to run over 4 times that distance and actually do it with a smile on my face.

That is the power of purpose. It can drive us to excel and exceed the limits of what we believe to be achievable.

When you are looking at setting your goals, or those of your teams look for the purpose within them or look to set goals related to a higher purpose and this will help you not only achieve your goals but also exceed your expectations.