Running a half-marathon has been on my to-do list for years. I’m healthy and I love to run, there’s really no reason I shouldn’t do it! Yet accomplishing this goal eludes me. Again and again, I talk myself out of ever starting. But yesterday I did something I’ve never done before. I got serious, studied different training plans, created one for myself and then WROTE IT IN MY BULLET JOURNAL! I’m a bullet journal fanatic and I finally used it chart a course that would see me accomplish this evasive goal!
Someday I’ll Get To It
We all have those goals that we put-off for “someday”. Maybe you’ve been wanting to learn how to roast coffee, start a garden or restore an old house. “Someday” becomes an expression followed by a list of excuses you see as barriers to that goal: “when I have more money”, “when I have more time”, “when the kids are grown”, and the list goes on. But the truth is, what’s really stopping you?
What inspired this new found determination? I recently watched the series World’s Toughest Race on Prime. It follows 66 teams on an epic race across the island of Fiji over 11 days and is an up-close look at the tenacity of the human spirit to endure intense suffering. At first I was shocked by the men and women who were willing to push their bodies to such extreme lengths. But as I watched them work together as a team to swim through 8 kilometers of freezing water or bike through mud up hill for 60 kilometers, and more, my perspective began to change.
Anything worth doing in life is going to be hard!
Anyone Can Do Something Easy
If it’s easy or effortless than anyone can do it. These athletes were pushing themselves beyond the limits of what most would think is possible. As they did, they were discovering a deeper strength, resolve and purpose to their life. As the race progressed, I began to feel envious of them. They’d somehow discovered a secret to finding meaning through suffering and I was inspired to do the same.
Two days later, I opened my bullet journal and outlined a running plan for the next 9 weeks that would lead to my half-marathon. As I looked ahead at the runs that would get longer and longer, I felt a sense of dread at the struggle that was ahead. But you know what, I was made to do hard things!
Someday was today. It was time to run my half-marathon.
How a Bullet Journal Helps “Someday” Become “Today”
The Bullet Journal is more than a trend, it’s a method that solves many problems that stand in the way of you accomplishing your goals.
We Are Easily Distracted
We all know the familiar trap of an instagram scroll that turns into a YouTube video that leads to a dive into the black hole of a reddit thread. The average millennial has an attention span of 12 seconds and the up-and-coming Gen Z— a whopping 8 seconds! Too often I find myself scrolling in order to scratch an itch, looking for something that will interest me long enough to satisfy my aversion to boredom.
Anything worth doing will require us to push past these cheap distractions and lock-in to an idea that will require hard work, faithfulness to the vision, and perseverance through the obstacles that will surely come. Will we have the character to endure when it gets hard?
How a Bullet Journal Helps
A bullet journal is a method that allows us to intentionally chart a course unplugged from the constant barrage of notifications and marketers that vie for our attention. The bullet journal is quiet compared to the noise of our devices. It’s a solitary space where I can build a life I deem worth living.
Restless Thoughts Need Anchored
How many of us get lost in the crisis of whatever urgent task is demanding our attention? Before we know it the day is done and we’ve unintentionally bounced around from one thing to the next. Are you living your life, or is your life happening TO YOU? Intentionally taking time to lasso all the thoughts swirling in your head and commit them to paper helps frees space to think at a higher level and creates emotional capacity.
How A Bullet Journal Helps
If Mother’s Day is approaching and I’m continually reminding myself to order a card, don’t forget, make sure to love on mom, etc… how much energy goes into the work of “not-forgetting”. But If I write it down in an organized and personalized system inside my bullet journal, then its out of my head and no longer needs to take up space and emotions— its on paper and it will get done!
Written Words Bring Accountability
A goal written down is more likely to be accomplished. Thoughtfully putting ink to paper as you express your desires and put actions items behind them, brings a greater level of accountability. Instead of thoughts swirling in la-la-land, you’ve made a plan, written it down, and now just need to stick to it.
How A Bullet Journal Helps
The bullet journal becomes a place you can chart your progress, a record of your history and guide to your future. The sense of achievement you will feel when you accomplish your goals will be documented by the history of hard work you recorded along the process.
Are you living a life worth living?
Yesterday was my first long run in the training schedule. I left my toddler and his forty pound stroller at home with dad so I could run unencumbered. Without a stroller I thought the run would be easy, even fun, but what I got instead was a horribly hard run. Miserable, actually. My feet felt like bricks from the first step, and it never got easier. What I’m learning though– easy is cheap. Easy is for the mediocre, the lazy, the men and women who want the path of least resistance.
I’ve only got one life to live and I’m not looking for easy. I want the kind of life that is costly, rare and well-lived; that is anything but easy. As I muddled through my run yesterday, committing myself to the next nine weeks of training, I set my intention to persevere— when It doesn’t feel good and when there is zero immediate reward. This is where I really grow, where I build credibility within myself, and where I model character to my kid. This is when it really counts. I can do hard things. So can you!
