Hello Achiever!

Welcome to my second newsletter!

I wanted to start with a shout out to Chris and Matt, my dear friends and first subscribers. Your encouragement and support has given me a newfound optimism that writing this is the right path.

In last week’s edition I mentioned that I have ran a sub 18 minute 5km. This was a hugely important goal for me in 2023/2024, and took months to achieve (1 minute per month).

Why 18 minutes?

I’ve always been a runner. A big goal within the running community is logging a sub 20 minute 5km.

I’d reached that, and in fact was comfortably running 18 SOMETHINGs most weeks at ParkRun on Saturday mornings (recommendation: find your local one, it’s a timed, free 5km).

17 something seemed pretty fast.

The problem was, I got stuck.

I had a plan and I stuck to it. I was visualising myself completing it, but it just wasn’t happening.

This went on for MONTHS.

It was demoralising.

Read on if you want to find out how I got myself unstuck. (the same strategy can be applied to your own goal setting activity).

The Code

In last week’s newsletter, I credited my morning routine for many of my own achievements.

This week takes a slightly different approach: what steps can we take when the code (or plan) isn’t working?

For writers, this may be what we call writer’s block.

For runners (like me), maybe your race times simply aren’t getting better.

For gardeners, maybe your flowers aren’t blooming the way you want them to.

Ultimately, sometimes we get stuck.

Here’s my hot take: we are smarter than we realise.

For years, I used to zone in on the area I wasn’t achieving in, keep trying to achieve/accomplish it, philosophically hitting my head against the wall.

I don’t know what caused it, but one day I came to the realisation that taking a break, trying something new and stepping away was a better idea.

So, I started doing exactly that.

Goal Setting in Action: The Sub-18 Minute Story

The goal was running a sub 18 minute 5km. This spanned across 2023/2024.

I had it on my vision board for MONTHS. A picture of a Garmin watch with a 17:45 5km time.

Every Saturday morning at 9am, I was turning up to ParkRun (a free timed 5km) and hoping that my training would pay off.

It just wasn’t. My times were consistently stuck around the 18:20 mark.

What I realise now is that my training wasn’t the issue, it was my belief in my ability to do it was.

The picture of my Garmin wristwatch on my vision board read 17:45.

My vision board is also the display background on my laptop, which meant I was looking at it every day.

Whilst that was focussing my efforts, it certainly was draining my self confidence too.

Close to breaking point, I changed the time to 18:05, and a photo of a runner celebrating.

I wanted to tap into the emotion of completing the challenge and take a bit of pressure off.

The next Saturday, I turned up at ParkRun. I’d woken up late, and just about made it.

There was a calmness at the start line. An inner calm. I wasn’t really thinking about the timing. Not sure why.

Another runner, Joe approach me and asked what time I was planning to run.

I explained my situation to him and he offered to pace me. He was a quicker runner than me but was taking it easy as he had swimming contests at the time.

I’d never been paced before, and hadn’t thought of that.

We set off and we completed our first mile in 5:38 (5:46 was the target time for a sub 18 minute 5km). I was feeling good, but a little worried that I may flag later.

The course was 3 laps, and that meant running back past the slower runners.

Joe ran slightly head and cleared them all out of the way. Legend.

I ran through, feeling like the man on the vision board.

I was starting to flag though.

To cut a long story short, Joe kept clearing people out of the way and helped me to finish in 18:11, just 6 seconds over the time on my vision board. Still, a new PB.

Reflecting on this, I realised that I had been open to trying something new, and to the idea of something new.

I’d also stopped being so attached to the sub 18 figure.

Equipped with a new PB, I was pretty stoked if I’m honest.

Two weekends later, I went back.

I had a newfound self confidence and belief.

Joe was at the start line again.

We repeated last week’s trick. This time coming round in 17:52, a massive 19 SECOND improvement.

The lesson here?

When we’re stuck, there’s a cheat code:

1. Shrink the goal → Maybe your mind can’t comprehend that amount of progress. Even if you halve it, you’re still likely to make progress.

AND

2. Be open to new ways of achieving that goal → I’d never thought of being paced before, but remained open when my angel Joe appeared, an unexpected mentor.

I don’t think this is limited to running. In fact, I believe this approach can be applied to anything. Can you apply the same logic to a goal in your life?

If you liked this, remember to subscribe or share this with a friend.

Keep running towards those goals (or whatever your preferred verb of transport is).

Dan