Have you ever started a project, gotten into it, and then got all frustrated and crabby and wondered why you even started it? That closet was just fine. Now it’s just a mess everywhere and you can’t decide what to get rid of or where to put things. Yes, everything was falling out every time you opened the door, but you had been dealing with that for years. You could have dealt with it for longer. Maybe you went to college or graduate school, found yourself stressing over studying, work, family and now you are a couple years in and wondering if it was even worth it. How about this one—your first ultramarathon. You trained and trained and spent hours running in all kinds of weather. You are about 70 miles into this 100 mile run, it’s the middle of the night, and you are tired, hungry, sore, hallucinating, and overall wondering why you thought you needed to do this. You still have over a marathon distance left and can’t find any reason to not lie down on the trail and take nap.
In times like these you have to remember your Why. You have to remember why you started. What is it that you wanted to get out of the thing that you started? Deciding to start a project, train for a run, go to college, or start a business is a BIG DEAL. It’s important to be locked in on the reason(s) you have decided to make this a goal. In the ultrarunning world we often talk about our Why. There has to be some very compelling reason to train for months and months and put your body through over 24 hours of physical stress.
My theme for this month is Remember Why You Started. I am having to do a lot of that lately with my business. When I was planning to leave my full-time job and working on getting this business going, I wrote down all of my whys on a piece of colored paper. Not in any order. Just scattered all over it. I keep it where I can look at it to help me keep moving forward when things are hard. Going along with last month’s theme of Good Things Take Time, I am trying to have patience as I remember all of the reasons I left the security of a full-time job for. Sometimes there are more questions than answers.
That closet you were cleaning? Your probably started that because everything was falling out every time you opened the door. You knew there were things that you didn’t need in there and the things you did need needed to be more easily seen and accessible. You also knew how you would feel when it was done. Accomplished. Proud. More organized. When it comes down to it, the reason you started was that feeling you knew you would have at the end.
College or grad school? You wanted a specific job or better pay. You wanted the job and the pay to be able to do the things you want to do. That 100 miler? You wanted to see what you were capable of and how far you could push your body. And this business? I wanted to help people make changes to improve their lives. I wanted to have flexibility and be more accessible to my kids and parents. I wanted to get kids outside and exploring.
Keep on pushing. Make a list of your whys. When things get hard, pull that list out and Remember Why You Started.
Peace from The Edge,
Julia
