It's never easy for me to be self-motivated. Especially if I know that the task at hand is going to be difficult or time consuming.
This week, my entire training schedule is changing. I switched from a 4 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off routine to a 3 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off routine. I'm actually logging the same amount of total miles this week as last week, 14. There are also some other variations from the norm for me starting this week.
This week, I have also joined a men's group at my church which began today and will be every Tuesday morning at 5:45am. I'm used to taking my runs in the mornings at 6.
A former client of mine happened to join this same group and was set to run afterwards, as well. He asked if he could join me stating that he was not very fast. I agreed since I, too, am not very fast. I told him that I was running 3 miles today and he said that was what he was planning, too. I also said that I hoped to average around 13 minutes per mile, a steady, but not too brisk pace. He nodded in agreement.
Call it a sense of competition or motivation or whatever you want to call it, but we finished the 3 miles in 35 minutes. That's a pace of 11.66 minutes per mile and the fastest I've completed 3 miles since I began trainging 2 weeks ago!
Always going it alone can be detrimental to your growth as a professional AND as a human being. We were designed for community and "connectedness". One of the greatest statements that I can quote comes from the book of Proverbs. "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."(my paraphrase) And it doesn't necessarily have to be a "friend". We are "sharpened" constantly by others; our colleagues, our partners, our competition.
I was pushed today! Allow yourselves to be pushed and motivated by others!
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