Dreams, Visions, Goals

“What man (or woman) actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him” – Victor Frankl

Why talk about goals now? 
Likely you prefer, like most, setting goals based on calendar year accomplishments. This is one of the most natural ways of goal setting. Here we are 3 months from year end and I am already in full on planning mode for the goals I wish to strive for next year. I’ll share some of them but will not on one specific one, as I like a balance on sharing out loud along with keeping something at bay until I can scream it from the hills in excitement.

I spoke about a list I made at 20 years old, as an early adolescent, of things to accomplish in life. “100 things to do before I die” was what I titled it. I kept it to 100 as it was a manageable number rather than a lifelong, never-ending list and I made it morbid for that fact of keeping the inevitable top of mind throughout. These were dreams and visions of what I saw myself doing. Many I have completed, many remain undone, many I no longer have an interest in, and many I may never get to. Running a marathon was one of those dreams but wasn’t the reason I ran one this year, although it helped push me through the training when times got tough.

For me dreams, visions, and goals all need to coexist, which is why they are all titled here. They have to coexist or you continuously strive to achieve things that are well within your means. They also should go in this order; you dream up something, you envision it happening through imagination, and you set a goal as to define it further. Goals put context to our dreams and visions, but they don’t lay out the path to get there…..that is where the hard work comes in. Goals are not a pathway to success but a feat to strive towards that means a lot to you.  

This is all so important to me. More important than you can believe.

This process is how I manage to put myself in a situation to achieve something well outside my reach, or seemingly well outside. I set out a goal, stamped and sealed, then I figure out how I am going to get there. This allows me to dream beyond my perceived measure and do things even I thought I couldn’t physically handle. 

Once you sign up, tell someone, and fully commit, you then find extra physical and mental strength to find ways of sticking to it. I don’t overthink goals, I just set them.

Here is how I see it.

When you have a dream, vision, and goal to cross the Rocky Mountains there are infinite amount of ways to achieve this goal. You could walk, run, bike, drive a car, fly a plane, or take a train. You could take a roadway, a trail, a pathway, or formulate your own way. You could climb over the mountains, peak to peak. Infinite ways to get there, many have not even been invented as of yet. The path, that piece is entirely up to you based on your research. While most try to find the easiest and most convenient way of getting there, I often like to push myself a little to grow stronger. Like training for a long distance road cycling event on a mountain bike, running hills and stairs to train for flat ground running, or simply finding a way to push the elements to make the end challenge much more bearable.

For the marathon I set the goal, signed up, and figured out how my path would look after that initial goal was set. It was something I wanted to do, so I figured out how to do it. I trained differently, I set the goal and paved my unique pathway there. I ran one 15km run a week, only 3 runs per week total, no pounding the pavement.

Start thinking about 2019 goals or set some now. Envision it, dream it, and set the goal….actually sign up to hold yourself to it. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish when you lay out those goals, the path comes afterwards.

DadBud