Jogging Towards Success

For better cardiovascular health, I very recently start jogging again. I say “again,” because I have tried numerous times over the years to establish myself as a jogger or runner, but I never turned into one. Looking back, I realize that this was simply because I never fully gave the exercise a fighting chance. I would experience pain such as shin splits and sore muscles. My rib cage would feel like it was about to burst out of my chest.  And then I, your brain, would save us by yelling, “Dude, this is why we bought a car!”

By listening to every muscle in my body telling me this exercise was hurting more than helping, I would quit. As the expression goes, “I couldn’t see the forest through the trees…” Yes, my body was hurting. Yes, my lungs were gasping for air; and yes, my heart was in the red. But isn’t this the definition of exercise? From my couch potato point of view, I just decided to go for a jog. “Hurting? We were about to DIE!!”

One of the problems I was facing was that I didn’t fully and clearly define what I was about to do: Exercise. Call it lifting weights, call it Zumba, or call it jogging. It all boils down to you getting off your butt and moving around vigorously—which if you are not use to it, hurts. Even if you are use to it, exercise can still be painful. But hopefully by that time, you would have comes to terms with the bigger picture (remember trees and forest; short-term pain, long-term health.) Screw the trees. Screw the forest. Flatten it all and put up a McDonalds!

Secondly, I never set any reasonable or measurable goals for my “new hobby.” By not setting any goals, I couldn’t measure any progress I may or may not have been achieving. I would simply quit, stating I wasn’t seeing any results. What results??? I never set any goals to see results. I just got into my head that I wanted to start jogging. I didn’t prepare my mind and my body for the effects that jogging would initially have on them both. I didn’t notify them both of the risk, i.e. pain associated with exercising. “What pain? We use to run all the time… when we were 12 years old…”

Lastly, I didn’t fully evaluate my findings. Yes, I glossed over the obvious pain and determined I was too out of shape to jog. However, if I stopped and truly evaluated what was happening to my body, I would have come to the logically conclusion that this pain is normal for someone who is sorely out of shape—both physically and mentally. I allowed my body to convince my brain that I wasn’t a jogger. Because logic dictates that if joggers felt this way, they wouldn’t do it either. “No matter, you’re more of a thinker anyway. And besides, we have a car, remember?”

So why is this story about jogging on a business blog?

Trees and forest, trees and forest. Remember, without trees there would be no forests. What were the trees of this story? Did you pick up on them as you were reading? If not, here is what you should be doing in your business (and personal life as well):

-Clearly define your realistic expectations and actions;

-Set reasonable and measureable goals

-Identify risks

-Evaluate decisions

Notice I am using words like realistic and reasonable. Don’t get me wrong; there are times to dream big. But you have to crawl before you walk—and you have to walk before you run.

Michael D. Alligood
Partner Sales & Support, ExchangeDefender & Shockey Monkey
michael@ownwebnow.com
(877) 546-0316 x707