I started running (again) about five years ago. Since that time, I have run several short 5K runs and two marathons (the 2015 Marine Corps Marathon and the 2017 Disney Marathon). About three or four months ago, after running in the soft sand on a beach in San Diego, California, I woke up with a lot of pain in my left heel. After a few weeks of alternating between days off and on running, I ended up going to a sports medicine physician who diagnosed me with Calcific tendonitis and recommended stretching, strengthening, and most importantly, prolonged REST. As per the doctor's orders, I took a break from running. It's been a long road back.
A few weeks ago, I started running again. My triumphant return to running really just involves a nice, easy 1/2 mile walk followed by a nice, easy 1 mile jog, followed by a cool-down. I've not been running every day, but I have been trying to at least walk at a brisk pace every day that I don't run. This past weekend, my wife and I went for a walk at a local park. I pushed myself a little and ended up running about 1.3 miles this time. It felt pretty good. The conversation with my wife went something like this:
My wife: "How did it go?"
Me: "Okay. I felt pretty good. But less than a year ago, I was running this entire trail."
My wife: "Yeah, but one month ago you weren't even running."
Leave it to my wife to set me straight. She was absolutely right. As we talked more, she told me that I should focus on the fact that I am running more now than I was a few months ago rather than the fact that I am running less than I was 1 year ago. My wife is a wise woman!
As I thought about it more, how many times do we fall into a similar situation. We've experienced a certain level of performance in either our personal or professional life, and then after suffering some kind of setback, we've had to slowly build back up to our historical level of performance. I am sure this same phenomenon happens in organizations too.
All of us - organizations included - will at times suffer some setback or decrement in performance. Alternatively, we may fall short of an annual goal - frequently a stretch goal. The tendency in these cases is to focus too much (in my opinion) on the long-term goal of getting back to our so-called "historical best" and not enough on the short-term goals of what needs to be done to reset and get back to that same "historical best." We know what we can personally accomplish or what our teams can accomplish if we are firing on all cylinders, but we neglect the fact that something has caused us to fall short.
Going back to my original discussion, my (eventual) long-term goal is to get back where I can
routinely run 5 or 10K races with an occasional half-marathon (and perhaps even another marathon). But my goal for the here and now should be to get back to where I am running on a regular basis again. In other words, I should break my long-term goal into short- and intermediate-term goals. If I focus too much on the fact that I have lost a lot of progress over the last 3-4 months, I will get discouraged and lose motivation. I think the same concept applies to organizations.
I actually don't know what the goal-setting literature says about all of this, but I do know from my own firsthand personal experience what works best for me. And, I think I have seen similar examples in my professional life. The road back to recovery can be difficult. Getting back to the historical best performance after a setback is exactly the same. Don't lose momentum by focusing too much on the long-term goal. Instead, focus on the short-term objectives with the end-game in mind. And remember my Achilles heel.
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