Climbing Molehills

I suppose i've been thinking a lot about goals and purpose lately because my original plans for this early part of the summer have been thrown to the dogs, so to speak. When i think along these lines, i frequently run back to George Sheehan's books, especially his great Running & Being.

But, in Running To Win, George talks about why most fitness programs fail and the need for goals, a purpose to train. As an example, he mentions one fitness program that is wildly successful simply because it is set up, designed, and run solely for the purpose of preparing the students to climb Mt. Hood. He says:

Each of us must have a mountain, even if some might look on it as little more than a hill. We need a meaningful goal, a reason for engaging in this enterprise of being fit. Otherwise, it's simply not worth the amount of time and effort we put into it.

I can't state too often that I am not merely a cholesterol level, or a percentage of body fat, or a treadmill test. Nor am I a profile of mood states or the condition of my arteries. I am, of course, all those states. What I mean is, I am all those and more. I am a living human being, seeking experience and attempting to make sense out of my life.

Our life must contain mountains or marathons or their equivalents, else we will not be sure we have reached our potential. The person who descends from a mountain is not the same person who began the ascent. Nor is the person who finishes a marathon the same person who started the race. A fitness program without a challenge is like being in the army during peacetime.

I'm not saying that anything less than a mountain or a marathon makes a fitness program routine and mundane. Not at all. But some new, out-of-the-ordinary, relatively difficult task must lie ahead of us and provide inspiration, something of sufficient difficulty to revise our self-image and increase our self-esteem.

...Most fitness programs have purpose, but no meaning. On the other hand, climbing a mountain has tremendous meaning, but no purpose. Still, that goal dancing in our head can convert the most boring exercise into something meaningful, to the point where we can almost taste the sweet triumph that we know will occur at the peak.

You simply need something you think yourself incapable of. Try something you've never attempted before.

James Allen agrees with him. In his book The Mastery of Destiny, he says:

Purpose is the keystone in the temple of achievement. It binds and holds together in a complete whole that which would otherwise he scattered and useless. Empty whims, ephemeral fancies, vague desires, and half-hearted resolutions have no place in purpose. In the sustained determination to accomplish there is an invincible power which swallows up all inferior considerations, and marches direct to victory.

...

The weak man, who grieves because be is misunderstood, will not greatly achieve; the vain man, who steps aside from his resolve in order to please others and gain their approbation, will not highly achieve; the double minded man, who thinks to compromise his purpose, will fail.

The man of fixed purpose who, whether misunderstandings and foul accusations, or flatteries and fair promises, rain upon him, does not yield a fraction of his resolve, is the man of excellence and achievement; of success, greatness, power.

Hindrances stimulate the man of purpose; difficulties nerve him to renewed exertion; mistakes, losses, pains, do not subdue him; and failures are steps in the ladder of success, for be is ever conscious of the certainty of final achievement.

All things at last yield to the silent, irresistible, all conquering energy of purpose.

"In the sustained determination to accomplish there is an invincible power which swallows up all inferior considerations, and marches direct to victory." That sounds so powerful.

"The person who descends from a mountain is not the same person who began the ascent. Nor is the person who finishes a marathon the same person who started the race." This sounds so promising. We all know it's true but it's easy, i think, to lose track of its importance. Even though during the climb your focus needs to be on each step, at that moment, and the thrill needs to be savored when you reach the peak, it should always be understood that the merit gained from your efforts is found after you come down off the mountain, after you cross the finish line at 26.2 miles.

I guess my point with all of this is that James and George are right: we need a goal, no matter how small it may seem to you and/or others, and we need to fix our minds on it with purpose. Since my bike ride is out, and it's too late to get in the Chicago Marathon, maybe my goal for this summer is just to force myself to train, for no other reason than to stay in shape; to exercise my self-discipline, knowing from past experience that the person who comes out of a summer of training will be a better person than the one who started it.


Discipline, will power, persistence, and patience. Maybe these are as important when committing to the trivial as they are when committing to something substantial.