Wishes, Dreams, Goals, and Missions

I remember writing a post about how I would be successful at losing weight, and my good friend Timm left me a comment suggesting my attitude to be "a little condescending".

As I look back on the article "Master the Conscious" it was the beginning of May. I had decided that my dream was going to become a goal (already moving up from a wish). More than just a goal, I made it my mission.

Joe Friel says it best, in his book "The Triathletes Training Bible":Most of us go through life never coming close to our limits and living only on wishes. But wishes are important; they're the start of great feats. Wishes grow into dreams when mentally "seeing" yourself accomplish the wish is possible. Dreams turn into goals when a plan for attaining them is defined. Goals become a mission when unwavering self-belief and purposeful zeal are realized. Big challenges require a mission status. The difference between a goal and a mission is attitude. Missions are evident by an accompanying commitment. With proper attitude, almost anything is possible. What you believe, you will achieve."

The attitude I expressed in my former post carries the weight of the mission. I no longer want to considered overweight, a battle I am still fighting. I want to prevent diseases that are easily preventable, I wanted the active lifestyle of my youth back.

Throughout my journey of living an active lifestyle, one area above the rest, I struggle with: motivation. For those that follow my blog, or that might work with me, you might say that I am taking this lifestyle change to the extreme. I am, however like nearly everything I get excited about, my motivation dies out, and I quit. Sometimes it takes a week, sometimes a couple months.

Often times I feel that I can not completed anything in life. I feel as though I give up; when things get difficult, I dont mind changing course. It is in my opinion, that I have not succeeded in meeting or achieving any significant goal. I have never pushed myself to the limit, and continued on to finish. Thats not to say I have never finished anything, but when you hit the wall, and everything in you tells you to stop, you have to make a choice: I picked no.

This is my motivation: I will finish, I will succeed, I will have one area in my life that I can say, I didnt quit. Something I can point to when things in life get hard, something that reminds me, I can carry on, I can finish my race.

Today, I turned 28 years old. I drove to Dearborn, Michigan, and purchased my triathlon bike. I am committed to my training, and it is that commitment that makes my goal a mission.

What makes me different from the many others out there? Commitment. For over a month and a half, I have logged my diet, and my exercises. I have learned how to guesstimate my caloric intake for every meal, even without a calculator. I eat 5 meals a day, and I exercise at least 4 times in a week. I am constantly seeking new information to incorporate into my routine, but maintain an attitude so I dont burn out. I push myself, and reward myself.

My strongest support has been my wife, who is fighting forward on her own similar mission. Her progress reminds me that our system is working, even when I dont always see it in my own progress. We get excited to share new information and what we are learning.

My co-workers put up with a lot because they listen to me talk about it every day... literally. I hope that my zeal and drive to become physically fit helps to motivate them. I pray that I encourage those around me, and never diminish thier own dreams, goals or missions.

In closing, I go back to Dearborn on Thursday to pick up my bike, after my final fitting. Once the bike is built, and I return, they tweak the bike to properly fit my body. It is quite the experience, and I would highly recommend BikesportMichigan.com to any and all triathletes.

Oh yah, after getting fit, it turns out that the Felt S32 was in fact the best fit for my body. The next best bike for my body, would have cost an extra $3800, and would be a better fit by 7 milimeters. :)