 if you if you're too focused on the destination, right, you sort of miss out on the journey. And as everyone knows, it's all about the journey, not the destination, right? So the destination is fun when you reach there is cool. But what do you do when you reach a goal? What do you do when you reach your destination? You typically just decide cool. And then you set a new goal. You decide for a new destination, right? So what is it really about then? Is it about the destination and the goal? Or is it about the journey of getting there? Hey guys, I'm at the cabin really enjoying myself these days here, writing a new ebook about running. Stay tuned. I want to talk about my motivation to run and train. Like, why do I do it? What's my drive? What's my purpose as a runner? And why I think you should consider a similar approach maybe. And why it's good. So let's get into it. So, you know, I've always done some running. I used to run as a kid. My dad brought me along to some races to to run with him and also to watch him run longer races. And, you know, I ran at school. And now and then I would go for a jog, etc. But it was not until my mid 20s that I started discovering health and healthy living and and actually started sort of doing some exercise again after a little bit of hiatus. I used to do taekwondo as a teenager. I have a black belt and I used to compete in national competitions. And I won sometimes too. But that was that was taekwondo. Then I had a hiatus and then I started running again for health and fitness. And it was not until I was probably 30, which is five years ago that I started thinking, hmm, what if I just really give it everything I've got? You know, what if I just go all in on the running? How good can I get? How far can I come? And well, the rest is history. The last five years, I've had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of opposition from injuries and issues. And so I've only been able to have a few years really of good training. And I'm still very early in my development, but I'm very driven. Okay, I have I have big lofty goals, right? So when I talk about my goals, I often talk about things like, yeah, I want to run sub three, our marathon. That's a more immediate short term goal. Now, I want to run really sub 230, right? I want to actually perform at a competitive level. I would like to win. I want to win the Olympics. Oh my God, I want to win everything. Well, probably not going to win the Olympics, right? I start a little bit late for that and very few people ever do. And I do dream of winning races, though, and competing, but here's the thing. My main drive is really just to get as good as I can get, okay, to take it as far as I can, you know? And at a certain point, my age, of course, is going to start basically limiting. It's probably already limiting a little bit. Maybe not. Well, I'm 35. So I'm just at the crossover point, perhaps at which it's starting to become an issue with age, right? But still, I would I would assume for another 10 years, I'll be able to crush and my PBs and get better and better and better until I start to butt up against maybe a little bit of an age challenge. But maybe with ultra marathons, it's you could go on for longer. Anyway, here's my point, okay? I'm actually, even though I talk about the goals, because they're very clear, like, you know, I want to run this time for the marathon, I want to win this time for whatever distance I want to I want to win races, etc. I would like to do that. None of those things really matter that much. Because my main motivation and drive actually comes from the process. I'm process driven. Okay, and that's what I'm trying. I'm going to try and convince you to become as well. Goals are great because they help us have direction. And we can focus on goals. And we can, it gives us structure. Okay, and it's very motivating to see yourself improving and reaching your goals. And goals don't have to be just time goals. Can also be goals like I want to improve my cadence, right? Your step rate. Or I want to get better at track running. Or I want to get better at hill running, downhill running. Or it could be things like I want to get better at planning. I want to plan my training week better. So there, you know, there's always room for improvement and measuring that and reaching your goal. See, like I reach that goal. I managed to get better at what I tried to get better at. That's very satisfying and rewarding. But if you get too focused on only the goals, if you're too focused on the destination, right, you sort of miss out on the journey. And as everyone knows, it's all about the journey, not the destination, right? So the destination is fun when you reach their school. But what do you do when you reach a goal? What do you do when you reach your destination? You typically just decide cool. And then you set a new goal. You decide for a new destination, right? So what is it really about then? Is it about the destination and the goal? Or is it about the journey of getting there? I think it's about the journey. And when I hear elite runners, top performance runners, there's a few famous brothers in Norway, you probably heard about them performing at the elite level in middle and sometimes long distance races. And they talk about how they hate training and they hate running. And they really just, they're just doing it to be best. They just want to win, win, win. For me, that's kind of a weak attitude. And it's kind of a sad attitude, I find, because if you're just, it's like an ego thing. It's like, why are you so focused on just winning? What about the actual process of getting there? Shouldn't you also enjoy, if you don't enjoy the process, it's not worth the outcome, I think. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But that's the way I see it anyway. I'm not saying we shouldn't have goals and strive for better outcomes and get better and better, etc. But we should really enjoy the process because that's really where most of the joy comes from, whether you think it is like that or not. I think that's the case. For me, I'm very aware that this is the case. I derive great joy from being an athlete and living the athlete lifestyle. For me, it's all about getting up in the morning and being like, oh yeah, today we're going to work on our fitness, work on our goals. Today we have this workout planned. Later we're going to do rehab or pre-hab or whatever. We're heading to the gym to do some strength training. Let's see if I can lift a little bit more than I did last week. Let's see if I can run a little bit faster. Let's see if I could just hit my splits for this workout today. And if I can't, then I look at my planning, I look at my training, I analyze and I see, well, why can't I hit those splits? What do I need to do in order to do it? And so the joy for me doesn't really necessarily come from hitting the splits, even though that's a bonus, or actually running a PB in a race or whatever. The joy comes from striving after that. The joy comes from trying to figure out and living the lifestyle that leads to that. That's how it is for me. So I'm process-driven, but I am goal-oriented as well. Because at the end of the day, what are you going to do with all the medals? And what are you going to do with the numbers? Oh, I ran this fast. I ran this fast. It's really about the life that you're living now. That's the only place your true joy can come from in the present moment. That's all I want to encourage you today. Look at your goals, think about them, but then recognize that your joy on a daily basis is probably not coming from the actual goal, but it's coming from the process of striving for that goal. And that's something that you can have today. You don't have to wait forever until you run a sub 40-minute 10k or whatever. Then you'll be happy. No? You'll be happy as long as you're working on your goals and your dream. That's what makes you happy. And that doesn't mean you should always work, work, work productive, try and reach goals. It's also okay to just kick back and not have any goal at all in certain aspects of life and at certain times. We need that too. Balance. Anyway, that's all. Leave a comment. Tell me what your goals are and what your life is like and what gives you joy in this regard. And I hope you subscribe, of course, if you haven't done so already. Please just click the button now, subscribe, get more videos into your feed like this. You can click the little bell button as well to get notified. And I look forward to talking with you in the next video. All right, thanks for watching.