Purpose Driven Action

It is written in Scripture that "Faith without works is dead."  This universal principle has a correlate that reads, "Life without purpose is meaningless."  Taken one step further one could extrapolate another correlate, "Goals without action are useless."

The underlying theme to all of these universal principles is that without purpose driven action, life has less meaning, is less rewarding and results in mediocrity.  And, once you lick the lollipop of mediocrity, you will suck forever!

We have been steadfast in preaching our fundamental principle of Excellence: how you do anything is how you do everything.  One of key components in the pursuit of excellence is having goals that are forged through purpose driven action.  Purpose driven action is simply intentional steps or plans of action that are based on our purpose and move us in the direction of our goals.

So I ask, what are your goals for training?  What is your purpose in training?  While the questions seem similar, they are quite different.  Training goals are tangible, reachable and measurable standards that you set for yourself to be able to reap the rewards of your commitment in time and energy in the gym.  Your purpose for training is that "one thing" that ignites your fire, sends goose bumps up your neck and gets you jacked up for your next WOD.

Recently, I have been evaluating my personal training purpose and goals.  What I discovered was that, while my purpose was definite, strong and motivating, I truly had NO GOALS for my training.  My purpose for training is to develop and maintain an ageless, strong and healthy physique that allows me the opportunity to take part in, and excel in, any physical life event that I desire.  To me this means I want to be in good enough shape to play ultimate Frisbee, play 36 holes of golf in one day, ride my bike 100  miles, participate in an obstacle race, stand up paddle board, downhill ski, etc.

I have the motivation, but what I realized is that I have been lacking direction.  Much like stepping up to the tee and hitting the golf ball as hard and far as I can without having any regard for the end result of the shot, my training has lacked that end goal.  So, on Saturday, I set upon myself a new goal: compete in the Granite Games and finish in the top 25% for my age group.

I can't even express in words what having this goal has done for my training already this week.  My intensity is much higher.  I have pushed much harder.  I have eaten much cleaner.  I have gotten to bed earlier.  I have better thoughts during my training. These are all purpose driven actions that are pushing me toward my new goal and what a difference it makes.

Purpose driven action is the lynch pin to creating the success you see for yourself and reaching the goals you have set.  So take some time this week for some much needed self-introspection and write out your purpose for training.  Then, follow that up with setting some new goals.  And lastly, develop a plan of purpose driven actions that will push you forward on your journey of personal development and badassness.