Why aren't personal goals fun?

Why isn't chasing personal goals as much as fun playing games?
After all, every game I play also has some end goal attached to it. Be it tetris: to get the all the tiny pieces aligned in a sequence or cricket: to score maximum runs without getting out or football: to hit the ball past the players into the "goalpost", i.e. to score a "goal".

OK, so every game does have some goal(s). Then the next logical question is:
Why do I enjoy trying to achieve those silly goals in games which have no real impact on my life, but hate chasing personal goals that could potentially turn my entire life around!
Very strange indeed, especially if you consider the fact that I lose at games all the time! Maybe, it's because when playing games, I don't really care if I win or loose. I'm having fun either way and that's what counts. On the other hand when it comes to personal goals, I'm obsessed about reaching my goals. My entire effort would be a waste of time if I don't get there. I don't want to have to anything to do with the journey. I just want to get to my goals FAST!

So rephrasing my earlier question,
Can chasing personal goals be fun?
I guess it can be, as long as I can make the journey in itself enjoyable. In that case, even if I fail miserably(and in the case of this blog publicly!), at least I would have had some fun along the way :)

2nd Run Of the Year

For anybody tired of reading running update posts, please rest assured that  I don't plan to write a post every time I run. However, I do plan to share my thoughts on running as I go along this journey. Today's run was my longest so far, 3km.

One thing that I've realized about myself, is that whenever I get into the speed/time mode of running, i.e. "how fast did I run", "how much time did I take for my run" , I only end up demotivating myself. To avoid this, I'm making an effort to focus on the distance instead. I try to set a distance target before I start my run and do my best to hit it, I don't care if I end up walking some of it. Without the pressure to meet any time or pace goals, I find that I enjoy my run more. This way, anytime I start feeling stretched, I just slow down, and whenever I feel like picking up the pace a little, I do just that.

I hope this focus on distance makes me want to run longer and more often. With another 995 km to go, the only way I'm going to get there is if I enjoy the journey.

First Run Of The Year

Finally, I completed my first run of the year. Better late than never :)
Ran 2 km. Another 998 to go!
I'm running on the treadmill for now. It's not as much fun as running outside. However since I'm just starting out and don't really have any rythm or timing, the treadmill helps me keep track and maintain a pace.
Once I build up to it, will start running outside. Looking forward to it.

Double My Income

This was always going to be an fun goal to work on.
Over the last few months I've received an offer from one the leading firms in my field, that pays more than double my current salary. The fact that I'm not taking it up, is an entirely different matter :)
For now, I'm going to mark this one as complete!

First Post Of The Year

It's been almost two months since my last post. As you can conclude from the tracker in the last post, I've failed miserably on my running goal. No runs since Dec 4th. So what's my excuse? I could say that I started work on a very demanding assignment in Dec. I could also add that I've worked every weekend and holiday since Jan 1st. However the fact is: I've been lazy. It's also the reason, I've avoided writing any posts. My internal "logic" however, was that I'll write my next post only after I start running again. Well that kind of thinking got me "not running' and "not writing" for over 50 days!

OK, I'm being too hard on myself. I did get a couple of things right. I've finished my first book for the year and I'm half way through the second. Will be reviewing them as I go along. I also took some amazing lectures online on Justice and Quantum Mechanics. I finally understand the rational behind Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the idea of Utilitarianism.


Next up, some focus on my reading goal for the year. Ohh.. and Happy New Year everybody :)

Tracking My Runs

If I'm going to run 1000 km in a 2010, I need a way to keep track of my runs. I came up with the following spreadsheet. Will publish this on my blog. Hopefully this will also keep me accountable.

It will be interesting to see how my stats turn out for December 2009.

My First Run

I did it. I completed my first run today. I've been procrastinating for over a month now. The "mini-commitment" did the trick. It did take a couple of days, I kept giving myself the usual excuses, but the excuses also meant no blogging.
I guess this means, I really want to blog ;).


The run.
It was a humbling experience, I ran 2.3km in 20 minutes giving me an average speed of just under 7km/hr(6.9 to be exact).

I felt.
Great! I was prepared for a painful, tiresome feeling at the end of it. However I came out of the run on a slight high and a bounce in my step.

Here is a quick screenshot: