Day 83: 27.8 miles/1:35
“Everyone has obstacles – many of them are quite familiar to us; anticipate and plan for them so they will not be disruptive to your progress and success this time.”
Obstacles are not the reason goals are not realized. It is the unexpected interruption and distraction of these obstacle that derail momentum. Once momentum is lost, most have a hard time getting things started again. Getting to your goal involves taking action in anticipation of potential obstacles that could derail you. Since we have all experienced successes and failures, many of us are well aware of the obstacles that will most likely interrupt our progress.
We all know our strengths and our weaknesses. We know ourselves well enough to know what people, behaviors, situations, and activities have a tendency to disrupt our best intentions. These represent obstacles that are easy for us to anticipate. And, these are obstacles that we can plan and prepare for so they do not disrupt our progress this time. That leaves us free to focus on the real issues of the day – accomplishment and dealing with the junk we didn’t anticipate.
One of the challenges I recognized prior to starting 100 Pedals was simply riding every day and staying healthy enough to ride every day. In the past, when I would ride every other day I usually rode 25-30 miles. Since I knew I would not have any recovery days, I made certain that the early rides were shorter and at an easier pace than my normal rides. I needed to insure that I wasn’t putting myself in a position where injury would prevent my riding. To that end, I made sure I stretched at least ten minutes after every ride. I am not normally a big stretch person. But, I knew that stretching consistently would help me with the strain I was putting on my body by riding every day. Planning to stay healthy and minimize the potential of physical injury are two simple examples of anticipating obstacles before they affect or interrupt my progress.
I know enough about me and the challenges related to my commitment to plan and organize my activities in a manner that enabled me to avoid the obvious obstacles that could and will present themselves. There will always be something that comes up that we did not anticipate. Our will and our focus will be needed to guide through those challenges. However, the most likely culprits to our success are the ones that always derail us. We already know what most of those are. Hence, those can be anticipated and dealt with long before they arise. Just like you plan to be successful, I encourage to plan to deal with those obstacles that have always disrupted your success in the past. Once you have control of that you are free to focus on what is most important – daily accomplishments and the development of a successful habit.
