It was still dark when John Hill, a 49-year-old attorney, slipped into the cold, churning water off Catalina Island, due west of Los Angeles. For eighteen months, he had been training with only one goal paramount in his mind…to swim the treacherous twenty-two-mile Catalina Channel, which, at that moment, loomed before him, a seemingly infinite distance.
"It was as if my whole life had been leading up to that second when I entered the water," Hill explained. "Yet, I had no idea if I could make it. It was by far the toughest goal I had ever set for myself."
Nineteen hours, fifteen minutes, and thirteen seconds later, a nearly delirious, but proud Hill inched his way out of the surf. He was the fifty-fourth--and oldest--swimmer to accomplish the marathon feat since the first official completion recorded in 1927.
Once again, a dream turned goal becomes reality.
The story, it seems, is as old as mankind. One man, for one moment, raises his arms aloft amidst the glow of achievement.
But why? What motivates an athlete to train for countless hours, reaching in his mind for that distant dream? What drive mankind to strive for goals? To dream the impossible?
According to Dr. Leon Tec in his Targets--How to Set Goals for Yourself and Reach Them, the answer lies in the fact that humans are, by nature, problem-solving creatures with a need for objectives, focus, and direction. "But most of all," Tec states, "we need the sense of accomplishment that comes from achieving what we set out to do. Without this sense of accomplishment, a true sense of self and of self-esteem is virtually impossible to develop."
"Establishing a target is an act of affirmation. Any time you set up a target, the assumption you make is that you have a good sense of reaching your target. Inherent in that action is confidence in your ability to achieve your goal," explained Tec. "Setting a target also implies a belief in the value of that target or goal. By the very act of establishing a target, therefore, you have expressed a belief in yourself, an attitude of optimism about life and your chances for success."
Whether your goal is walking a mile or running your first marathon, climbing a stairway or scaling a mountain, successful completion of that goal allows for the self-satisfaction of a job well done, a milestone reached, an obstacle conquered.
As Amby Burfoot, East Coast editor of Runners World magazine, emphasized in a discussion of long distance running: "Completing a marathon is 90 percent believing and only 10 percent training…just finishing a marathon is enough for many runners." Burfoot points out that one of the most important steps in establishing a goal is first admit that you have limitations. "Get comfortable with them, then set a reasonable goal."
One world class athlete who has understood the importance of setting realistic goals is Pat McCormick. Recently inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame as one of the great divers in history--she won an
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