Focus on the incremental steps that are in your control.
This weekend, I’m running my 10th New York City Marathon. I’m ready and the weather looks perfect. It should be a good day, in part because I learned a real lesson last year.
At the 2023 Boston Marathon, I came in fit enough to know I was capable of a personal best time. But three miles in, I realized I was hurting way too early.
I convinced myself that I never had to race a marathon again if I just got to Mile 10 on pace to hit my goal. At Mile 10, I told myself to get to the halfway point — 13.1 miles — and then I’d renegotiate. By Mile 22, after a few miles of stretching and deep breathing through a side stitch, I found a new wind and decided to reclaim whatever time I could. I ended up running those last four miles way faster than my pace at the start of the race.
Without realizing it, I’d broken down the race into what behavioral scientists and other experts call “process goals,” small objectives that were more in my control, instead of focusing on my original “outcome goal” of running my fastest time ever.
That can be a remarkably effective strategy for all kinds of goal setting, it turns out. One broad review of research on athletes suggested that process goals lead to better outcomes overall.
That’s because focusing on one step at a time tamps down our anxiety while showing us what we can achieve, explained Ollie Williamson, the main author of the study.