Goals are Dumb

Hey Reader,

I’ve been training lately for a half marathon coming up at the end of October. I haven’t been able to participate in a real race in almost 2 years, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

It also reminds me of an important lesson that I wanted to share as I prepared for this race the first time I ran it.

When I first started running, I did it because a friend of mine challenged me to do it. I’d always hated running (I much preferred to play sports in high school), but figured it’d be a good test of mind over matter for me.

In short – I figured that if I could discipline myself to run a half marathon, I could do just about anything.

I trained a year and a half for my first race. My goal was to run the 13.1 mile course in 2 hours (~ 8:30 pace, for my fellow runners).

Unfortunately, I overtrained.

The week before the race my patella tendon slipped off my kneecap on my left leg, causing a lot of pain whenever I would run.

But I didn’t care. I had trained too long to give up now – I was going to run (and finish) that race no matter what. And I did:

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I even achieved my original goal of completing the race in under 2 hours. But as I crossed the finish line, it was with mixed emotions:

First, I felt satisfied in the accomplishment of my goal. Not only had I not quit, I ran faster than I had originally planned!

But every step hurt, and I knew something was wrong. I knew that I had months of physical therapy in front of me, and running another race was not an option for the foreseeable future.

Which forced me to come face-to-face with an uncomfortable question:

NOW WHAT?!?

That’s the problem with goals. The moment you achieve them, you must fill the void with something else. They’re never satisfied! They give you a brief moment to celebrate your accomplishment, then force you to immediately go back to work.

Which, in my humble opinion, is dumb.

Life is too short to be nose-to-the-grindstone all the time. You have to learn to love what you do.

Which is why nowadays, I prefer habits over goals.

Habits are things that you consistently do. They become part of your identity. For example, if you want to become a writer, just write. Don’t focus on word counts or seat time.

Just show up every day.

Over time, you’ll learn to enjoy the journey. Your preferences will change. For me, I stopped worrying about pace or distance and learned to enjoy running. Once I created the habit, it became the natural expression of my values and turned into something I enjoyed doing. You can do the same with any other activity, whether it be writing, journaling, exercising, etc.

Running is no longer something I have to do to achieve a goal. Now, it’s something I get to do.

Recent podcast episodes

​Focused Episode 134: Finding Space with Sean McCabe​

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Sean McCabe comes back to report in on what happened when his year-long sabbatical smacked into a pandemic and how he keeps his focus while winding up a new business.

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​Bookworm Episode #127: The Art of the Idea by John Hunt

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Today’s author attempts to teach us to redefine our world through the power of original thinking. Join Joe & I as we consider the creative process in an effort to make the most of our own ideas.

​The Intentional Family Episode #38: The Grass is Greener​

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Comparison is deadly. It can quickly lead to a loss of identity, cause us to misjudge others, and creates a lack of desire to humbly seek out answers from trustworthy people in our lives. In this episode, Rachel shares some pointers from a recent experience to help you avoid it at all costs.

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Sermon Sketchnotes video

Every Sunday, I take sketchnotes of my Pastor’s sermon and post them to my website. Here’s my sketchnote from September 12th.

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Until next time – keep going, and keep growing!

– Mike Schmitz

P.S. I know it’s been a loooong time since I sent a newsletter like this, but I’ve got some help now (👋🏼 Michelle) so I’m hoping to get these out a little more regularly. If there’s anything you’d like to see here, hit reply and let me know!