Okay so we’ve looked at why it’s important to be aware of your surroundings when it comes to time. You need to be looking where you’re going, and looking back on how far you’ve come. But what about the present?
Evaluating the present means taking stock of where you are right now. It means evaluating what steps you can take right now, to move closer to your goal. When you learn how to goal SMASH, you learn not just how to goal SET, but how to mark out a plan that is guaranteed to succeed. It might take some adaptation along the way, the time frames might change, but the plan and the steps remain the same. We use process goals to help you get there, to keep you motivated and regular check ins to ensure accountability and commitment.
And that’s what the present is all about. The present is all about:
- Acknowledging the barriers that present themselves right now and removing them. Or, if you can’t remove them (or don’t want to!) then how we work around those and how realistic it is for you to achieve your goal and what parameters of success really mean for you.
- Sticking to the plan you’ve set yourself so you’re consistently ticking off the actions you promised you’d perform in an effort to achieve success.
- Accepting that sometimes, things DON’T always go to plan and being able to deal with adversity as and when it arises and redirect your plan so it is still moving toward your goals and not away from them.
In a racing environment or on long runs or rides, people often talk about accessing “flow state”. Flow state is essentially being fully immersed in whatever it is you’re up to at that precise moment. For me, it can be during a tough 5k. It’s not a long period of time, about twenty minutes, but it’s painful. Focusing on the finish line doesn’t help you get over the first 2.5k. Likewise, focusing on the fact it hurts but it’s only for another ten minutes, doesn’t help either!! What does help, is simply learning to push the brain into present thinking. Not having an emotion about the sensation in my legs or my body, but simply acknowledging that’s how it feels right now. Acknowledging every step that is taken, what the breath is doing, how my arms and head feel. It’s blocking out those around me, emotions and anxieties about pace and speed and simply being present in the moment. When you get to this state, you don’t block out pain, you simply are “in it”. It’s often termed as “being in the zone”.
Being in the present is not just about following a plan you made in the past and using the foresight and hindsight you’ve got to refine it, it’s about really enjoying and being present in the process. Life is not about the past, nor the future. The only thing that is genuine is what you feel right now. Snatching those seconds and just trying to be present in them not only give you greater life satisfaction, but it also forces you to acknowledge how everything is feeling, absorb it and keep going.
So when you’re thinking about whether you should be present in the moment, looking ahead to a brighter future, or reflecting back on how far you’ve come, remember it’s not about ONE of these frames of reference, but rather about all three. The real key to success is having a balance of focus on all areas of the map, just like driving a car, you cannot spend too long looking in one direction.