Aim structures your perception
“You only see what you aim at – not only metaphorically but also literally and physiologically. Your perception is adjusted to your aims.”
'Aim structures your perception' has been stuck with me since listening to Jordan Peterson speaking on a podcast last week, and this is how I believe I have gotten myself towards achieving Kokoda.
By setting the Goal in 2015 of 'achieve something unachievable before I turn 40', now I say unachievable as I was so injured at the time walking from my bed to the kitchen hurt, let alone thinking of 130km through the jungle, this has helped me make decisions that lead to being 5 weeks from achieving this goal.
Decisions like:
- Telling my trainer Andy, so he could hold me accountable and structure training to hit this goal.
- Talking to Back Track Adventures, deciding on the best dates and paying the deposit
- Working with my advisor to ensure financially it was achieved
- Connecting with people who had been there to find out what the 'guidebooks' don't tell you
The great thing about this is it is all tangible steps and those turn into all consuming in your brain (well at least they have in mine), so that every day I wake up knowing I'm a step closer and I have really noticed that my body and brain are restructuring themselves to the end goal.
There have been moments as I work towards this trek, where I'm coming up out of a hike and my thoughts are 'I can't do this', 'what was I thinking', 'you're crazy' (that one is other people, not just myself), but as time has gone on, hikes achieved, tricky situations overcome, that internal speak has changed to 'you've got this', 'so excited', 'can't believe I'll be on the track soon', and this is where I believe that my aim has restructured my perspective.
I've given myself something to achieve, a goal to work towards and as a friend reminded me today - that whilst others are partying, I'm sleeping, whilst others are brunching, I'm walking and this will continue post-Kokoda.
The awesome part is now I'm looking past Kokoda, what's next, where else can I go and thinking long term which is something I haven't been able to do.
So, if you're reading this and feeling stuck or can't get off that treadmill of life, then set a goal. Big or small, close in time or a year or two away, but just set it and then your brain will restructure a timeline to achieve and you'll get a stubborn resolve to achieve... Trust me I know I have!
