The 1000 hour challenge

I have always been a goal setter. I can’t remember a time beyond my early formative years when I didn’t aim to stretch myself in one or even multiple areas of my life. However, I would love to have a smile for every time I failed; for example, the times I fought the laziness of getting out of bed early in the morning to exercise as a teenager.

And if I consider all my failed goals, I have to be fair to myself and consider my successes as well; and there have been many. I would even suggest that most of the visible and tangible personal growth goals based on carnality I have already achieved, but until recently a pretty big battle remained.

I have struggled throughout my adult life to regulate my eating to one of a consistently disciplined nature. I managed to eat well and exercise self-control ninety percent of the time, but then I would have my blowouts, where I would sometimes bite and graze for a day or two, usually on weekends.

I have considered this problem for a long time as tea last frontier when it comes to carnal desires. I had previously tried probably a hundred times (or maybe more) to gain control over this aspect of my life, all to failure, until now.

This is what I did:

1. Thinking I needed such a powerful focus on this goal, I planned my next 1,000 hours starting at 7am Monday morning. I created a pocket score sheet with groups of five hours grouped together; there were ten five-hour clusters on each line (fifty hours on each line) and twenty lines.

2. I diligently tracked every five-hour period on my path to success, and even counted my percentage complete measure, celebrating as the hour count and percentage increased.

3. I set reasonable ground rules for myself that include some fasting at lunch, the need to eat a full breakfast, eat fruits and vegetables, and exercise every day. I sought to achieve a feeling of semi-hunger and maintain it daily. I was also on the lookout for going into mental autopilot.

4. Then I focused on process, process and more process; forgetting the result he was looking for, even wanting to delay it.

Then I found out I learned the following things during the process:

1. My goal-oriented thinking soon did a 180 degree turn. I began to really savor every part of the process. He didn’t hate the trip as he had before. I didn’t yearn to complete it so I could go back to my old ways. In my thoughts, those old ways were now history, an important part of my past. Yes, past.

2. I considered every 0.1 percent toward the goal as significant milestones. Remembering that we sleep for hours each 24-hour day, some hours were incredibly easy. For every hour before me there was a fair, open possibility that I would react and respond perfectly, winning this present battle. Achieving momentary perfection of the goals we set for ourselves is very encouraging.

3. The most important lesson I learned was if we really want to achieve something we must keep it in mind. It must become the most important thing in our conscious thought pattern.

4. At any other goal juncture, I’ve found that the hardest part is holding on to hard-earned ground—that is, staying focused and on track without compromising the long-term goal. The way I looked to handle this was by adding a second thousand hours and then a third. So I would end up with a solid 123 days consist of record-keeping habit. That’s four months of doing the same thing day after day, every hour consistently.

Achieving all of our goals is really a fairly simple process. The word “process” is operative; It’s fundamental. This method worked for me because my mind has always been math-oriented. It might work for you too.

Whatever we do, we must never give up on our dreams and goals. A hundred failures can precede the eventual singing success. Their moment of victory!

© 2009 SJ Wickham.