{"id":1071,"date":"2019-03-01T13:06:38","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T13:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2019-03-01T13:10:33","modified_gmt":"2019-03-01T13:10:33","slug":"running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/running\/","title":{"rendered":"Start, Keeping Going – Lessons from Running"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have heard many times that graduate school is a marathon and not a sprint. In fact, in her blog post last week Amy Sheppard said this very thing! I wanted to expand on this idea because for the past year I spend most of my time either running or working on my thesis. I developed an appreciation for running the year I started my first foray into research, the final year of my BSc. When I started graduate school that appreciation and dedication only grew: as I became more disciplined with running, I pushed my limits academically. In the final year of my MSc I ran my first half marathon and made plans to start my PhD. There is an unavoidable parallelism in my life between running and academia.<\/p>\n

I like running because it gets me outside (even in the extreme cold I have a strict no treadmill policy), it is dedicated time to spend with close friends, and it is my time to think, process, and discuss with undistracted focus. Running starts my day with a comforting rhythm that is sometimes hard to find in life. But it has also taught me many lessons that I can bring to my experience in academia: to be successful at long-term efforts like grad school and running you have to get in a routine of working towards your goals. But how do you do that when those goals seem so far away? First you start, then you keep going.<\/p>\n

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I was a little frosty after my run on a typical Manitoba winter morning (-30C) last week but it was still worth it!<\/p><\/div>\n

Start<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is daunting to start something, whether it\u2019s taking that first step out into the cold morning or writing the first word blank document. Starting comes with the inevitability of challenges and the possibility of failure. When I find myself focusing only on if and when I will finish, I get hung up on how far away that ultimate goal feels. I need to remind myself I have it backwards, I first have to focus on the beginning. The first step to finishing is taking that first step.<\/p>\n

The first question I ask myself is: Can I start? Can I start running today? Can I start working on a big analysis or piece of writing? The answer is almost always yes! Conversely, I try not to ask myself: \u2018Can I finish\u2026?\u2019 Because that\u2019s not always a guarantee. To remind myself that starting is an accomplishment too, I\u2019ve added the word \u201cstart\u201d before the items on my daily to do<\/em> lists. That way I always accomplish what I\u2019ve written down for that day.<\/p>\n

Another way to start is to form a habit. For instance, I know I will go out for a run if I make it the first thing I do in the morning. Similarly, I have daily cycles in my academic productivity; If I\u2019m mindful of that schedule I\u2019m often successful at the tasks I plan.<\/p>\n

Keep going<\/strong><\/p>\n

Congratulations on starting! The next question is: Can I keep going?\u00a0 Can I run 10 more steps up the hill? Can I write one paragraph or figure out what this model looks like? Again, the answer is normally yes! At this point I\u2019m well on my way to accomplishing something.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I find myself ready to give up right before the *magic* happens: I\u2019m subconsciously giving myself one final out before I fully commit. Whether I\u2019m pushing past a distance or pushing to finish a big project I\u2019m always proud of what I accomplished by persevering. When I finally do achieve my goals, whether It\u2019s finishing the marathon or submit my thesis, I will look back to those more challenging moments as key points where growth happened. It\u2019s the prior steps that add up to that final goal: progress is happening.<\/p>\n

A perpetual feeling of being behind on work manifests when there are no achievable milestones along the way to a goal. If being finished was the only thing that could make me feel \u2018caught up\u2019, I would label a lot of what I do as failure. I urge you to focus on any growth, learning, or experience as progress, not only the final product. Some days you just won\u2019t run as far or accomplish as much as you wanted to, and that is OK. You got out there and you tried. Any time you start and keep going when you want to quit, puts further along than you were before.<\/p>\n

Here are a few specific things that help me start and keep going when running that can be applied to working on my thesis:<\/p>\n