Sprinting a marathon
Have you ever tried to sprint as hard as you can for a mile? A 5k? A half Marathon? A marathon? An ultra Marathon? What is the difference for each? The distance. That is why understanding an appropriate time frame for your goals will help you achieve realistic results. When you say things like I want to pay off this credit card of 10k in a year with no real map to do it are you capable of reaching that goal? No. Even if you make 100k a year it’s not possible because what is the first step in running a marathon? Prep work and a delivery approach. Same goes for your goals. If you aren’t sitting down and making a game plan to tackle your goal then you have no map to follow, time frame or approach to get there.
When I tried to do everything I needed to do in 2 weeks for my new wellness studio to open what happened? Burn out, feeling sick, run down and exhaustion. I wanted to get everything done right away, right now. That is unrealistic for the amount of things I need to actually do. Panic and overwhelm set in because I didn’t set up real tangible deadlines with my time. Once I was in burnout that’s when I realized how much I needed to take time off for me so that I can actively work on a time table. It was only through making the mistake that I learned a valuable lesson. Reread that sentence, because mistakes is how you re-evaluate yourself to achieve your goals.
So what are you trying to achieve in your life? When I thought about this I wanted to open up a huge wellness center with all these things. But the more I thought about reaching that goal I began to understand that it wasn’t possible. Not yet anyways. I needed to learn some other skills in order for that to become a possibility. Breaking down the big goal into little chunks looked like this.
Open wellness center:
-I need to work in a leadership role, hiring/firing, front end of the house, managing schedules. (Yes I did some of this during my days in retail but not in my own business.)
- I need to budget for utilities and handling all the aspects of working with other people. As a single person easy, but I need a breakdown of cost/expense/ income.
- I need to come up with a brand that fits the clientele I’m looking to obtain.
-etc…
These were some of the skills I need in order to open that big beautiful center. So that means starting small. Growing to fast can cause so many problems for a business. Volume doesn’t always mean success because if you can’t handle the volume on a larger scale with the same care, love and passion you can on the smaller scale then you will fail. That is why I pulled back. I didn’t have the leadership experience yet, the scheduling, the financials, all of that made me see that okay I have stuff I need to do first before I get to that 10 year goal.
It’s okay to take time in order to create the life you want to create for yourself. Remember this is a marathon, sprinting is only going to leave you exhausted and maybe even sick. So take time to stop and smell the roses. Focus is good but balance is necessary. If you don’t have an outlet for self care you won’t be able to maintain the routine and consistency of it. When you prepare for running that marathon, you think about diet, what exercises you need in order to strengthen and prepare yourself. You have to work on different amounts each day, learn about staying hydrated, maybe invest in a pair of running shoes. Maybe you need headphones and a running watch. Every time you re-evalute what’s working, what needs improvement, what you could drop, what you could add you get better and grow that much closer to finishing that marathon strong.
That is why sprinting through life is only going to add stress to you and you will wind up burnt out and broken wondering how you are 50 and life is already 1/2 way over. Life is meant to be lived every single day, not just for retirement, or a rainy day or the weekend. You are meant to live right now. So stop pussyfooting around without a plan for yourself. Meandering about waiting for someone to come in and save you, its stupid. You have to save yourself and be brave enough to fight the damn dragon. Make a plan for yourself and break it down into what you need (not just financially or materialistically) to get there. Look at your skill set, your personality, your talents. What do you need to be a speaker? Maybe join a theater group to do stuff in front of an audience, maybe you join a bni group to get better at speaking in front of others. Maybe take a public speaking class at school. Your dreams are realistic no matter how big they are, but they won’t happen if you can’t take action and learn the roles and skills you need to get there. Are you ready to run this marathon?
Today was a 10! Signed the lease for the wellness studio!!!