momentum creates motivation

I stole the post title from Farnum Street Brain Food, a highly inspirational, thoughtful email newsletter. From this week’s newsletter:

If you wait until you’re motivated, you’ve already lost.

Surgeons don’t always feel like doing surgery. Teachers don’t always feel like teaching. Parents don’t always feel like cooking. Firemen don’t always feel like rushing into a burning building.

If you let motivation dictate your actions, inertia conspires to keep you in place.

Action creates progress. Progress creates momentum. Momentum creates motivation.

Farnum Street Brain Food

Yesterday, I hit a local trail for my long run, an important part of my half-marathon training. It had just started raining, and the forecast called for snow, maybe. The temperature was around 32 degrees.

I showed up. I dressed appropriately and showed up. I figured if it started raining too hard, I could always come home and finish on the treadmill. I also hoped the trees would protect me from the rain.

My run went well. I ran the entire time which was good in itself. I’ve been struggling with needing to take an occasional walk, but not yesterday. I did 4.3 miles, and my pace dropped 13:24 to 12:52. When I finished I felt good. However, I did stumble at one point and tweak my left hamstring. I’m not worried since I don’t run again until Tuesday. I also think the Tumeric/Curcumin that I take helps with injury recovery.

Finally, I came home excited to be running this week. We’ll have highs in the low to mid-50’s. I can get a trail run in Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, I’ll run around our development which has good hills for building my legs. I just keep getting myself out the door and following the plan.

Author and screenwriter Ray Bradbury on the power of cumulative action:

“Action is hope. At the end of each day, when you’ve done your work, you lie there and think, Well, I’ll be damned, I did this today. It doesn’t matter how good it is, or how bad—you did it. At the end of the week you’ll have a certain amount of accumulation. At the end of a year, you look back and say, I’ll be damned, it’s been a good year.”

Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203