avatarSneha Saigal

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Inventing Deadlines Is the Secret Ingredient To Running A Marathon

In 2012, I moved back to India after graduating from Grinnell College and joined the Akanksha Foundation, a non-profit that provides education to students from underrepresented communities. As a part of the fundraising efforts, I organized and raised a record-breaking $70,000 in one event — the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.

In the spirit of team bonding and morale-boosting, a few of us participated in the 7km “dream run,” which was really more of a dream walk. I was in charge of the “serious” runners, getting their bibs organized, jerseys ready, and so on. A whole decade later, I joined the club after completing my first 13.1-mile run (11'50")! The trick that made it happen — inventing a deadline.

I am less of a procrastinator and more of an overpreparer. Not a great combination, I know, and more often than not, I postponed this race blaming the weather, work, travel, Omicron, Mercury retrogade, for coming in the way.

Truthfully, I was excited about the idea of “running a marathon” but did not take actionable steps that were prerequisites like signing up, training, etc.

A few months ago, a friend responded to my tweet about time management with a book recommendation and my immediate instinct was, sure, who doesn’t like productivity wisdom bombs?! Only this was no wisdom bomb!

In Make Time, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky aren’t beating around the bush. They pull no punches and from page 1 you are convinced but also astonished at how humans and technology have been redesigned to make us mere reactionary mortals to handles, notifications, and IP addresses.

“In the twenty-first century, two mighty forces compete for every minute of your time. The first is what we call the Busy Bandwagon. The Busy Bandwagon is our culture of constant busyness — the overflowing inboxes, stuffed calendars, and endless to-do. The second force competing for your time is the Infinity Pools. Infinity Pools are apps and other sources of endlessness.”

“When we tear ourselves away from the Busy Bandwagon, the Infinity Pools are ready to lure us in. While the Busy Bandwagon defaults to endless tasks, the Infinity Pools default to infinite distractions. Our phones, laptops, and televisions are filled with games, social feeds, and videos.”

No matter the number of tabs you bookmark, or the number of Notion lists you make— without a plan or a deadline, you’re constantly deciding what should be done next and falling into the immersive distractions of the 2984924 other things you could’ve should’ve or can and should do right now.

And this applies to all the things you want to achieve even outside of work. Maybe it's writing a novel? Or learning an instrument? Or meal prepping too.

For someone who had run 0 miles, signing up for a half marathon of course felt undoable without a plan.

And, why plan when it isn’t urgent? That’s when I discovered the secret ingredient that is inventing deadlines!

Mid-August 2022 was when I booked my spot for running the half marathon taking place in October 2022. Once I had that bib confirmation QR code sitting in my inbox, I knew it was time to go run, and finally check off that milestone (yay, pun!). All the running gear, Hal Higdon training guides, sleep cycles, and carb overloads began to fall into place because I had no escape anymore. If I failed to show up and give my best shot in October, I’d have to push it to April 2023, and if not April 2023, I’d have to push it to November 2023. And, who knew what new distractions would come into play by then?!

No vision boards, productivity hacks, or motivational videos can help because, life (read s***) happens. It’s all part of the deal. Did I regret drinking dirty martinis before a practice run? But did I also love staying in on those Friday nights before an early rise? Yes and yes! You manage your energy the way you manage your time. Don’t put too much pressure to go the extra mile (yay, another pun) — but just make sure you start!

“The world needs people who have come alive. Don’t wait for ‘someday’ to make time for what makes you come alive. Start today.”

— Howard Thurman

Productivity
Health
Life
Books
Running
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