10.1 miles: Know Thyself or My Life is Like a Zillion-page Paper

I've read a lot of advice columns, blogs, and lists; and went to a couple talks, regarding creating systems for doing the things you wish you did, but never seem to be able to establish in your life. I've tried some of them.

There's writing things down. There's doing things at the same time every day. There's not missing more than (1, 2, 3) days in a row. There's doing things first thing in the morning. There's doing things in a class or group or with a buddy. There's starting out slow. There's starting out fast. There's eliminating 'bad' things entirely; there's giving yourself small treats. Some advice is contradictory. Some is centered on morning people. None of it ever seemed to work for me...

This 1000 mile challenge is working wonders so far...so, why? Why am I excited about this, instead of resigned (which I was every other time a workout plan remotely worked for me?) Here's my theory.

I realized earlier this year that the usual time-management and organization advice, to create a schedule and a routine, doesn't work for me. I've never liked schedules...they make me want to rebel against them. Well, that's not entirely true. I like having a few things in my schedule that relate to other people...class, lab meeting, coffee date, delivering drawings to the machine shop; they get me out of bed in the morning. The reason for me to be there, then, is largely that others expect my presence.

On the other hand, when it comes to individual tasks, I need enough time to be flexible, to make mistakes and to catch up. At the same time, I need to feel crunched...crunch time for homework begins 2 days before the due date (flexible depending on class). Crunch time for a paper or presentation begins a week before. Crunch time for running 1000 miles begins...now! A better analogy is actually that running 1000 miles in a year is like a whole semester of class; one week, or one assignment, can be made up by performance on other weeks or assignments. The difference is that I know I can do an assignment passably in 2 days or write a paper in a week. It usually involves several continuous hours each day, though. I am equally aware that I can't run several continuous hours in a row.

So, where does that leave me? I can't measure my exercise in minutes per day, or even miles per day. I can't measure my process. By the same token, I can't measure a side effect; I can't measure my health in pounds, or by how many pounds I can lift... I need a task. I need a challenge. I need to run 1000 miles. I need to climb 10,000 feet. I need to accomplish something.

I think this is important to know about myself; about how I can motivate myself. Now to figure out how this applies. Hmmm... :)