In your career, have you always worked quarter to quarter and year to year to meet company KPIs? Taking part in weekly forecasting calls, quarterly business reviews and sometimes ignoring development opportunities because they are seen as a distraction. It’s possible that this short-term perspective is getting on the way of your overall achievement and this article will explain why.
6 months ago, I entered the Edinburgh marathon. What I did not expect was that the preparation for this race would introduce a new perspective on how to approach goal setting and goal achievement.
This new perspective clarifies vision, increases commitment and builds sustainable progress over time, ultimately leading to greater outcomes.
So, what were the ingredients to my marathon success? What is this newfound approach to goals? and finally, how can this be applied to your career?
1. Consistency is key
If your tendency has always been to work in short bursts of focus, you probably see a good amount of productivity during these periods, and it’s enough to keep you performing at an average level. However, when you move onto the next burst of productivity, the focus has changed to a different task, rather than building productive habits that can compound over time.
Anyone that has completed the marathon distance will tell you that the final 10km can go one of two ways. Done incorrectly, the body will have burned through all the carbohydrates and the muscles will simply stop working. However, if the training and strategy come together, this can be your opportunity to be a cut above the rest.
My final mile was the quickest of the race, despite having ran 25 miles already. My second half marathon was the quickest I’ve ever ran, and the secret to this performance was 6 months of consistent training.
9 months ago, I quit alcohol and for me, this was the biggest factor in finding consistency in my exercise. It enabled me to build the following habits into every week:
- 5/6 cardio sessions
- 2/3 strength sessions
- Bi-weekly physiotherapy
- Time for rest and recovery
- 80+% good diet
With no alcohol in my life, this became possible because:
- I unlocked an extra 2-hour training window every morning by getting up earlier.
- Every exercise session was high quality because I was never hungover.
- I had more disposable income to spend on things that would enhance my running.
You don’t have to quit alcohol to find consistency however, what everyone can do is list out the daily, weekly, monthly practices and routines that can create an upward trajectory to their version of success. Once this is done, work out the conditions you need to be able to consistently execute and build productive habits.
To progress in your careers, depending on your role and ambition, these habits could include:
- Spending 2 hours on personal development each week.
- Introducing yourself to a person of influence every month.
- Posting on LinkedIn 2 times a week.
- Completing your hardest task to start the day.
When you start adopting these habits into your work life, it’s easy get caught in the trap of looking for immediate results. Which leads onto the next big mindset shift.
2. Have a long-term perspective
One of the reasons that productive habits are hard to form is because some of them do not have any immediate visible benefits. When the result of these actions is not seen straight away a doubt forms about whether it was worth the effort. All of this comes from having a short-term perspective. How many times have you made a grand plan with strategic actions and then found yourself consumed with daily emails instead of doing what your strategy outlined? Can you think of a time where the immediate needs of others have changed your priorities without you even feeling conscious of it? Has there ever been a time when you’ve felt stressed because of the number of deadlines you have to hit?
I signed up to Edinburgh 6 months before the race, having not run long distances for over a year. To prepare, I found a sub 3:30 marathon training plan online and set about trying to meet the weekly exercise quota. Two weeks in, surprise surprise I got injured. What I didn’t appreciate at the time was that I’d suffered my exercise equivalent of burnout!
I’d put so much focus on the short-term goal that I’d completely forgot I’m not a trained marathon runner. 6 months may sound like a long time to train, but when your body is not used to running 26.2 miles there are massive risks associated to starting a marathon training plan. Why would I suddenly expect myself to be at the same level as people that have conditioned their bodies for years?
I also realised that when I complete a race, I tend to move onto another completely unrelated hobby. This means that I miss the opportunity to build on all the gains I’ve made preparing for this race. The lack of focus had introduced a ceiling to my success!
The injury and subsequent reflection about why it happened led to my decision to commit to running long-term. This meant that I could create a new goal that was more ambitious but give myself longer to achieve it.
A sub 3:30 marathon puts you in the top 15% of marathon runners, and with my old approach that’s the best I would have ever achieved. A sub 3-hour race would put me in the top 4% of all marathon runners globally and this is something I know I’m capable of with my new consistency and long-term commitment to the sport. Using this new mindset, I’ve now reframed my goal:
From – ‘Run a sub 3:30 marathon in Edinburgh 2024’
To – ‘Run a sub 3:00 marathon in 5 years’
How would you reframe your career goals if you put a much longer timeframe on it? Going back to the daily, weekly, monthly habits, what would these need to look like to make sustainable progress towards the new goal?
A typical career goal could be changed:
From – Get promoted to sales manager next financial year
To – Get promoted to VP of sales in 5 years
Once a long-term perspective is realised and the habits are defined, the pressured experienced day to day should be reduced. You’ll also find yourself less distracted by the priorities of others because you have a clear vision about where you want to be.
To clarify the destination, we need a long-term perspective. Then, how do we motivate and orient the person who is moving towards this destination?
3. Make your goal part of your identity
Have you ever noticed the difference when you ask a casual runner and an elite athlete about their marathon times.
Casual Runner – “I’ve ran a marathon in less than 3 hours BEFORE”
Elite Athlete – “I AM a sub 3-hour marathon runner”
Both answers demand a huge amount of respect. If I were to guess, I’d say the casual runner gets more kudos (Strava and company pun intended) than the elite runner, who’s consistent achievements are more impressive. No one thinks to challenge the casual runner and say, ‘what time would you run if you ran a marathon today?’. However, the elite runner can answer this question with a confidence that says, this is my standard level of performance rather than an achievement I’m still clinging on to 10 years later.
When I look at those two people and visualise who I want to be, I draw greater inspiration from the runner that turns up to any given race and knows they’ll achieve a great time. Historically, I’ve always been the casual runner, boasting about my previous PBs that telling people what I once achieved rather than what I could do now. This is not limited to running, I regularly talk about my best sales year of my career or my best round of golf. If anyone were to really analyse this, they would see an inconsistent performer rather than a high performer.
The elite athlete has made running a part of their identity, and this results in daily actions that become non-negotiables. Progress is measured in months and years rather than days and weeks. This means that the peak of progress is higher and much more sustainable than a casual runner who dedicates 6 months training to a particular race and then ditches is for another endeavour. The elite athlete is less likely to suffer burnout when they try to do too much too fast, and this leads to an improved physical and mental wellness which enables consistent performance.
Now with a new target identity, my goal shifts again:
From – ‘Run a sub 3:00 marathon in 5 years’
To – ‘Become a sub 3-hour marathon runner in next 5 years’
Going back to the individual striving to become a VP of Sales, if they made this goal part of their identity what could this look like?
From – Get promoted to VP of sales in 5 years
To – My 5-year career vision is to become an inspirational leader of people
With this new identity, your habits become even more obvious. You can challenge your own choices and your decision-making process becomes easier. What would an inspirational leader do every day, every week? How would they show up to every interaction they have? Instead of constantly striving for a goal, you can start living that goal today. A typical week of someone living the life of a leader could look like this:
- Find junior peers that they can mentor and develop.
- Network internally with senior leadership to learn what makes a great leader.
- Understand the company vision and practice communicating the message.
- Actively seek new development opportunities.
My new running identity was formed during the preparation for the Edinburgh marathon, and it immediately took the pressure off that race. Rather than it being viewed as the be all and end all event it was viewed as a checkpoint in my long-term vision. Defining how a sub 3-hour marathon runner would show up every day allowed me to set the conditions for productive consistency which could be actioned without affecting other areas of my life. It just so happened that this newfound consistency led to me achieving the initial goal in addition to setting an even more ambitious goal.
At Kudos we see long-term visions as the critical pillar of effective leadership. With these 3 ingredients our coaches can help you define your vision of success, build productive habits and inspire people to go on the journey with you. Let’s raise that bar!
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