Have you ever done anything where you kept talking yourself out of it or had a negative self-talk tape that was running, keeping you from staying focused on where you wanted to go?

Today I’ll show you how I keep these thoughts out of my head and focus on what I want.

When I run, I occasionally do intensive sessions and try to beat previous times. During these sessions you want to go faster and keep going, but at some point your body starts saying it’s hard and wants to stop. You push through it, because you know your body starts whining long before it’s actually attained its limits. But when it’s the mind that starts complaining, what do you do? I know my mind is starting to complain when my focus and attention start wandering and make me think about the meal I had a couple hours ago, or start worrying about some future improbable event, or it starts questioning the utility of what I’m doing.

How do I deal with this and get back on track?

I focus on my desired outcome. Say I’m 2 kilometers in and I’ve got 3 more to go. I’m not going to focus on the finish line. I focus on a point just beyond where I am. A concrete step I can clearly see, not some abstract notion of a finish line I cannot see. Even though I know there is a finish line, it doesn’t help to focus on that. You can’t see the progress if you move one meter compared to five thousand. But a meter in relation to ten is something you can see and feel.

So to keep your focus on your main desired outcome, decompose that outcome into smaller steps. And each time you achieve one step, reward yourself  for having achieved yet another one. Then focus on the next step immediately. If you repeat this long enough, before long you’ll be at the finish line.

When you focus on a concrete thing you can do, your brain doesn’t have space to distract you. I just can’t. When it starts drifting, it will always drift at some point, you simply bring your focus back to your mini goal.

Essentially you are creating mini challenges to achieve a bigger one. Don’t focus too much on the end goal. Focus rather on the steps that will get you there.