Know Your Why

"Know why you're in the fight to stay in the fight!" advises self-improvement Navy Seal and rockstar endurance and mental toughness guru David Goggins in his book Can't Hurt Me. It's great advice, in running and in life. In marriage, in parenting, in searching for a path that's more than what you have now, or simply different. 

Do you want to set a personal best? Do you want to move to a new city, or get a new job? You better do some inner work to "know your why" because it will get hard. And when it gets hard, you can't give up. You will have to fall back on the rationale, the reason, the motivation to work hard and push through when you want to quit. 

As a running coach, I ask clients to think about the reasons why they want to run or achieve a particular goal. The reasons you articulate will help you maintain and even boost confidence during the rough times of training and racing. The reasons will support the actions and habits that lend to successful training blocks, like early morning workout sessions. 

Figuring out your why is not easy. It takes honesty. Reflection. Vulnerability. It takes confronting your fears. Once you see those things, you have to be honest about how to address them. Whatever your reasons are, you're fighting for you. For your life, your vision of your life, your better self. You are worth it, all that effort and work. But can you overcome the exhaustion, fear, fatigue, and insecurity to develop the step toward becoming your future self? One step at a time, sure--you can do that. But why? Because you have the potential to be better than you are right now.