Expectations of self. Hopes and realities. Setting goals.
by Lynn Riskedal | October 27, 2008
Goals are good. Keep a balance of challenging and realistic. Challenging goals are good, since they make you reach. Push yourself. Try out new things. And it will strengthen you for the event.
There are challenging goals, and unrealistic goals.
What are your goals to challenge yourself? How do you know if your goals are unrealistic?
When I first decided to train for the marathon, I thought ‘I’m athletic. I should be able to do a 4 hour marathon.’ Reality strikes: I was never a runner in school and only periodically ran through my adulthood. I gained ‘a few pounds’ while in graduate school.
After a few training runs, I quickly realized running a sub 10 minute per mile pace was TOTALLY unrealistic, for me. I revised my goals. I started training to accomplish my goal of finishing ( with a secondary goal of a 6 hour marathon). Really listening to coaches and those who had run distances before: I asked questions, learned, and trained: And kept my goals realistic. I was ecstatic when I came across the finish line in 6 hours and 20 minutes for my first marathon.
And, even if I had been a runner and was able to run a 10 minute per mile pace, one never knows what will happen on the day of the event. When I did the Honolulu marathon, we got drenched for the few hours before the start. Blisters impacted our effort. We finished, but no where near the time we had hoped.
Throughout course work, learners need to keep in perspective what is happening in their life–family. work. And make adjustments. It is not a failure to drop a course. Your doctoral advisor is there to help you make wise decisions.
And one needs to continually practice and develop one’s academic skills. Don’t push harder during the coursework time, for the purpose of getting done faster. ( ok, that will be the next post)
Assuming accomplishing the doctoral journey is the end goal, what are your goals to get to the end goal?
What happens when you strive for something that is/becomes unrealistic?
What’s at stake to overpush yourself?