One of my favorite lessons from running half marathons is that while you’re running, you should not think about the entire race, but to live in the moment and focus on a half mile at a time. Before the race, you need to think about the whole 13.1, set a reasonable finishing goal, decide how you will pace yourself, etc. But during the race, you’ll be miserable if you spend every minute thinking about exactly how many miles you have left, what pace you need to run them, and whether or not you’ll make them. When you’re in the thick of it, often you need to just buckle down and focus your energy on getting through the next steps, rather than thinking long term and getting overwhelmed by all the things in front of you.
I apply this strategy to my life on almost an hourly basis, and it reduces how often I feel overwhelmed. Before I start a task that I’m dreading, I take a step back and look at it, and think about how to tackle it and what needs to get done. Once I’ve started, I try to focus on all the next steps rather than looking around me and becoming depressed by everything left.
Yes, I said I sometimes do this on an hourly basis. If you could see the mess I’m capable of making in the kitchen, you’d understand.
I’m not overwhelmed by massive, important, crazy things – but a pile of unfolded laundry, a stack of unwashed dishes next to a full dishwasher, an empty fridge and no plans for dinner at 4 p.m. when I have two cranky kids during cold season is pretty overwhelming. I can literally get panicked when I think about the number of individual tasks I need to accomplish in order to get the household in order, all while trying to minimize sibling rivalry without excessive use of screen time.
So, yeah… I get into the zone pretty regularly, once I’ve stepped back and prioritized the most critical tasks and determined which ones are secondary. But once I’ve made the decision to empty the dishwasher first, then get the soup cooking, then move onto laundry, there’s no sense pausing every three minutes to agonize over the amount of dirty dishes or socks that need to be paired. Then it’s just next step, next step, next step all the way through, no waffling, until time is up. One step at a time.
Speaking of… I’d better go clean up from lunch.
Thank you for the good advice. My HM is less than 3 weeks away and I’m battling some kind of vague achy, icky, lightheaded illness and I’ve had to put my training on hold. Thinking of all the running I’m missing and all the running I still have yet to do is definitely overwhelming.
*sigh* laundry. Recently my husband commented, “It just never ends.” I agreed, it literally never ends. One day about 5 years ago I thought I was caught up, but then one of my kids brought down a pile of dirty clothes and *poof* my caughtupness was gone and I never got it back.
Off topic – I made your kale & cilantro rice last night – sooo good! Also, I re-named it. I call it “I Am Running This Rice”
I hope you feel better soon! It can be nice to take the down time away from running and give yourself permission to relax, but I know that’s not easy to do with a race on the horizon. Wish you the best!
I laughed out loud at your comment about thinking you were caught up on laundry 5 years ago. It’s such an enormous event that if we ever did catch up, we would remember five years later, wouldn’t we!
I am running this rice – you crack me up 🙂 thanks!
I had NEVER thought to run a half marathon thinking about only the mile you’re running in until two weeks ago when Megan (our coworker’s wife) mentioned doing this. How many half marathons have I run and how many running plans have I read and this concept is completely foreign to me?? 🙂 I’m still not sure how to implement it but it’s definitely a mental strategy that seems to help. Megan said it was a huge benefit to her. I usually think about a half in terms of “get to mile 7 and then you’re more than half way done!” Ha
I can totally see how this concept could apply to life management too. I think many of us get LESS done when we have so much to do. If I have one or two tasks to do, obviously that is manageable, and I’ll get those one or two tasks done. But if I have, say, 5 tasks to do, I want to cry and curl up into a ball and hope an angel appears to do it all for me. What does help me, although I have to really try to remember it even though it’s so simple, is to take a few deep breaths and maybe say out loud “you can do this. okay, first…”
In any case, this was an enlightening post. SO much on my plate right now and not sure where to begin 🙂 But it’s only going to get done if I do actually begin…
Good luck with the boys and cold season! I hope you make it out as unscathed as possible (perhaps only ONE round of colds instead of multiple rounds).
Regarding laundry, I am ONE person and I do nearly a load a day. I can’t imagine having to do laundry for a household. You parents/spouses are pretty amazing.
oops – this was me, not Anonymous 🙂
I’m not sure I could finish if I didn’t think about just the part I’m running! We all have our own mind tricks to get through the distance, but I know this for sure, telling me at mile 7 I’m over halfway there means I have about half left and that is NOT something you ever want to tell me at mile 7! Good for you, you’re mentally strong 🙂
I completely agree about the mental difference between a few tasks and 5 tasks. Part of my struggle is the mental burden of remembering all the things I have to do when I have a large number of things to get done in a short amount of time. They might be fine individually, but knowing the number of them and REMEMBERING them can be a mental burden. I’ll sometimes use the chalkboards we have in the kitchen to jot down all the little things as I think of them. This helps me just look at the list and move on to another task, rather than trying to keep track and prioritize everything in my brain.
Regarding doing laundry for a household – if it was your full time job you’d manage it just fine 🙂 I’m pretty lucky to have my entire day to tackle parenting and household management!