A key ingredient to achieving our goals is how we track them
Author James Clear once wrote, “The things we measure are the things we improve.”
Over the course of the past month, I’ve been working towards the first milestone in an epic life goal I recently decided to act on.
Long-term the goal is to run a triathlon before I’m 40 (September 2024).
Side Note: A full triathlon is 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile cycle, and 26.2 mile run.
Yep. You read that correctly.
Its run component alone is a full marathon.
Yikes.
Where to start?
I knew it would be unwise to focus solely on the end result.
Looking too far to the future can trick us to reach for outcomes instead of processes.
Success can take many forms, but I’ve found that successful personal growth starts with better habits and how we track them.
I found myself at the beginning of a new quest.
The first step was to show up.
The second step was to set my sights on a milestone far smaller than my epic goal—run a 5k (3.1 miles).
The third step was to track my progress as I trained about six weeks out from the event.
Knowledge is power
I started logging each workout in a Notion database.
It turns out (having not actively run in over a year) my only speed was slow.
But just like the tortoise racing the hare, I kept showing up.
I tracked each workout.
I listened to my body.
I looked for ways to improve my form, stretches, diet, and routine.
I reviewed my logs.
I adapted my workouts.
What started out as purely running and walking soon included into bodyweight workouts, rowing, and resistance training rowing.
Tracking is the key
Regardless of how we track our progress, tracking it is a key ingredient to the success we seek in our lives.
Our brains can deceive us.
Our memories can become unreliable.
Writing down the data of how we’re doing can help us make better choices.
I’ve already seen small improvements over time, which is honestly all I care about in this process.
I’ve done my best to make the process manageable and sustainable for my life, while not giving in to the temptation to slack off.
The information from tracking helps me adjust my days to that I can make decisions for how to attack the rest of the week.
—
For example:
There were a few days early on that I could feel my quads basically ripping off my bones.(Okay, yes. That’s a bit dramatic)
—
Clearly they weren’t, but I knew that I needed to spreadd out my leg workouts a bit more than I had scheduled and decided to incorporate some upper body workouts on my “off” days.
The schedule was the same in terms of quantities of workouts, but the change allowed my body to build up muscle without taking on too much and causing injury.
Focus on what you can, ditch the rest
I’ve said this more times than I’d like to admit, but I wholeheartedly believe that life is a marathon, not a sprint. In the case of pursuing any goal, breaking it down into manageable pieces, tracking those pieces, and adjusting to make those pieces fit our lives is the name of the game.
It’s not about outcome, it’s about the process of how we try to get to the outcome.
I can’t control what will happen to me tomorrow, the next day, or five years from now. But I can reflect each day on the progress I’m making and change gears when I need to.
4 Steps to Improve Goal Tracking
Here are some suggestions for how to manage and track our own goals:
Write it down — This may seem simple, but you’ll never be able to remember what workouts you did in any meaningful detail a week from now. Write down the relevant information on a dedicated notepad or in the digital cloud, but write it down somewhere. Notion in particular has been good for me because of how I can change the formatting from calendar to database list on the fly.
Plan ahead — Take a stab at what you think you’ll be able to accomplish in the next week. Schedule those times you’re dedicating to the goal now so that you show up for yourself.
Be flexible, but fair — If something comes up and you need to adjust, that’s ok. Try to stay as close to the schedule you’ve prepared as possible. Life happens. Just don’t let things become excuses to not show up. You’re only hurting you
Never miss two — I learned this hack from productivity expert, Matt D’Avella. When you’re pursuing something like a new habit or a goal, never miss two days in a row. Showing up can look horrible. You could barely make progress at all, but showing up and consistently making progress is often just as important as the work you put in that day. By never missing more than one day at a time, you control and maintain the quality of that habit and the likelihood you’ll be able to keep it going.
Tracking anything can feel like a slog. But by writing down our progress we can take the seemingly impossible (like completing a triathlon) and transform it into confident, consistent progress towards each milestone along the journey.
Just by seeing that you’re showing up, you’ll want to show up more. You’ll want to help yourself succeed. You’ll want to help yourself reach those goals.
Even if you never reach the goal, the confidence you gain from consistently showing up is one of the best gifts you could ever give to yourself.
Until next week, here are links to what I’ve been working on and treasures I’ve found out in the creative wilderness.
Enjoy!
Recent Finds
SmartLess — Interview with Paul Thomas Anderson (Podcast) | Magnolia. There Will Be Blood. The Master. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most interesting directors working today. In this conversation with the boys from SmartLess, Paul dives deep into his creative process and his methods for coaxing out the best work possible. I highly recommend this episode in particular because I find it fascinating to learn how creatives of all kinds operate at the highest levels.
Ryan Holiday — Shaping Your Dream Day, Everyday (Video) | In this short video, Ryan breaks down his dream day. As it so happens, it’s also the same day he’s recorded the video. How did he do this? He identified what an ideal day looked like to him and reverse engineered his choices to make it happen. Love it.
Rich Webz — Why I Quit (Bad) Books (IG) | I try to keep up with a regular reading habit. I’ve found that, for me, reading is one of the best ways to keep my thinking fresh and to discover new ideas. This post from Rich Webster argues that we shouldn’t just push through any slog of a book. By becoming more deliberate about what we read and ditching what isn’t working, we can increase our enjoyment of books and improve our productivity at the same time.
Quote of the Week
“To become better, you have to act differently. That sounds simple, but consider this question:
How often do you choose to do something outside your ordinary routine?”
— James Clear
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
