How do you know if a goal is out of reach, or not?

Fellow-Brit Nev Johnson has got me thinking with his posts here. First he asked me to outline how I managed to take 11 minutes off my 10k time in a year.

My first item in my list was "Set a clear, quantifiable goal that I was really, really excited about."

Nev came back with the comment: "Most people would say that your goal was way out of reach."

That got me pondering again. How do you know if a goal is achievable or not?

I've worked out that what I do is pick a goal that in my mind is huge, but has a possibility of being achieved. I mean literally "in my mind" -- for example, I can see myself running a 36-minute 10k at altitude; I can't see myself winning the Olympic title. Anywhere!)

The goal has to be big enough that it "gets you out of bed in the morning". If it is too big and unrealistic, you'll soon know, because it will stop you in your tracks and you will start to fear it.

When I've come up with a Goal, I realise that my next step is to share it with a select group of people whom I can trust to a) know what they are talking about and b) give me honest feedback.

If you've got a world-class coach like Bobby McGee on hand, or an elite runner like Gabino Toledo, you can just ask them straight out: "Do you think I stand a chance of achieving....x?" Of course, you've got to select your advisors really carefully... don't put the question out on letsrun.com :)

What I'm doing in this stage is gathering data. I'm not looking for permission, nor for an ego stroke. I want an accurate, objective report of exactly where I am right now. If my advisors say "No", that's not the end of the goal. I might ask them, "What do you mean -- not now, or not ever?" I might ask myself, "What do I need to do to change their minds?"

Back in the day, when I ran for my county in England (US equivalent would be state), the next step was to try to get in the national team. When I asked around whether people thought is was possible, I got "maybes" and "yes buts". When I asked myself what would I need to do, the answer came back -- double my training and give up work. I wasn't prepared to take that step.

Your other source of data for reality-checking is direct comparison with your peers. What is possible at your age and with your commitments? Are you performing better or worse than runners in your age-group? Think about what you want to do: how many other people have done it? How hard can it be? :)

At this stage gather your role models in a protective screen! When I need "reinforcement" I head for the bathroom where (don't ask me why) I have a poster of Kelly Holmes, who came back from serious injury and clinical depression to win not one, but TWO gold medals at the Olympics -- at age 34. The 800m and 1500m champion says on the poster:

"People told me I'd missed my chance.
People told me my body couldn't take it.
People told me I was too old.
Fortunately, I was never much of a listener."

My pal Dwight just sent me a link to an article about the great Hungarian coach Mihaly Igloi. I particularly loved this bit -- Jim Beatty is talking:

"I knew the 4:00 indoor mile was going to be broken, that the time had come, and I said "I'm among the ones who has a shot at it." I said "coach, I'd like to be the first man in the world to break 4:00 indoors." My question to him was "do we have
enough time for me to get in peak condition from this point in October to be able to do that?" He closed his eyes, calculated all the training, opened his eyes, and said "We have time." That gave me the confidence that I could do it and the willingness to put in all the hard training to do it. He'd pre-set the date to do it, February 10. And he set a pre-race strategy and the quarter-mile breakouts for (Laszlo) Tabori, myself, and Jim Grelle." (Full story, "A Brief Chat with Jim Beatty" is on Runners World here.)

What this piece brings in are the elements of time and progression, which are key factors in Huge Goal setting.

That's because every clearly-defined goal (and they're the ones that stand most chance of you achieving them) has a date attached to it. You set a time to achieve it and then you work back from that point... in your head if you are an Igloi -- and set intermediate stages: things that HAVE to be done if you are going to succeed. I had a 10k time of 48 minutes. Well, I knew I could get that down to 45 pretty quickly. From 45, I could "see" the next step: that sub-40 was possible (it took six months). Getting under 40 minutes was a HUGE boost and really confirmed that The Goal was not just possible,. but probable.

So the thing is, even if you have a goal that maybe is"out of reach", you are starting where you are -- and that is within reach of the first, second and third steps. Make them small and achievable and you are on your way.

When you get over halfway to your Huge Goal its like when you turn for home in a race, or reach the last mile.. you KNOW you are going to do it, and you get a massive boost in confidence, energy and motivation.