More Than Running…

In Decision

Posted on March 30, 2012. Filed under: Running | Tags: #running, challenge, character, fitness, goals, half marathon, health, marathon, mental discipline, mental-health, mind/body connection, running, vision |

If I could make up my mind the way housekeeping makes up hotel beds, I would be in pretty good shape.  Perfectly tucked and creased.  Lumps in all the right places.

Unfortunately, my decision-making ability isn’t always quite that smooth.

Well, that’s not entirely true.  When it comes to deciding between, say, Tagalongs or Thin Mints, the decision is easy.  Both.  And therein lies my problem.

There’s a sprint tri coming up in June that I really want to enter.  It will be my first tri in almost two years, and I know what I need to do to train for it.  I’ve done it before.   However, for me, training for a race means I need to eat clean, stop wining, and stick diligently to the training schedule hanging on my fridge.

I have what’s called a competing commitment.  I am committed to entering this race (and, once I’m out there, to placing).  And I am also committed to Tagalongs and merlot.  I can’t have both.

Fortunately, our minds are remarkable things.  This is fortunate, that is, once we understand how they work, especially in terms of decision-making.  About 90% of our decisions are already made for us—by our subconscious mind.  The beliefs we have about ourselves and the world are “programmed” in us when we’re young by our families, culture, education, geographic location, etc.  Are these beliefs right or wrong?  That depends.  How are they serving you?

Take me, for instance.  I grew up with the belief that I was shy and non-athletic.  I believed I was made to read books, draw pictures, hang out alone.  Most of my circumstances supported this belief and when I tried to participate in an activity contrary to it, I usually failed.

Fast forward 20 or so years.  A little voice inside me tells me there are things I want do. Like teach and public speak.  Swim and run and ride my bike really fast.  But these things aren’t “me.”  I can’t see myself doing them—until I change my mind.

Once I decide I can do these things, I start honoring that voice.  I see me doing what I want to do, and I start doing it.   If my subconscious can be programmed by others when I’m young, it can be reprogrammed by me when I’m old(er).  I can retrain my mind to think about me in a different way.

I became a teacher.  A public speaker (however big or small the audience).  A runner, biker, swimmer.   I changed the way I saw myself.  I decided I could do it.  And I did.

So why has it been so hard for me to commit to training for the June tri?  Until this week, I hadn’t fully resolved to do it.  My mind wasn’t all in.  It was still drawn to the boxes of Girl Scout cookies hidden in my freezer behind a wall of frozen vegetables and chicken.

Now that I reached the first step, I can take the second.  The first act of deciding is in the mind.  The follow through is in the body.  Both require action.  I’m finally in.

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