Hidden Brain: WOOP.

Yesterday my daughters and I followed along with this episode of Hidden Brain as we tried to make some achievable goals. I don't have my daughters' consent to share their goals, but I can share mine: I aimed to, in the next four weeks, continue running 3-4 times a week and to try not to break down when we're having family trouble at home. 

Here's the gist of the podcast from the NPR page:

Through the years, Oettingen has studied dieters, students, job seekers, love seekers, people recovering from physical injuries, and other strivers. She's found they all have something in common: Those who have stronger, more positive fantasies about reaching their goals are actually less likely to achieve them. They lose fewer pounds, earn worse grades, receive fewer job offers, stay lonely longer, recover from injury more slowly.
But there is a way to reach more of our goals and make our wildest (realistic) dreams a reality. It's called WOOP, or Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan.

There's a chance that my goals might be too achievable, but I'm not so sure. I battle through a lot of emotional weight most of the time and am good at giving up on well-being practices. Not crying and continuing with running are good for me.

Oh, and on the topic of running, I broke all my records on Tuesday:

Broke 1hr and 10km for the first time... ever? #smallvictories #getinshape pic.twitter.com/PCcC3xvfEE

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) May 11, 2016

I started by wanting to run just 20 minutes without stopping, but then I broke 27. Then 37. Then 45. Now I've broken an hour. However, I'm only increasing my goal by one minute a run. So although I ran an hour and seven minutes on Tuesday, my actual goal is now at 39 minutes.

​Achievable goals, baby.

Yay!

Just used Google Maps to realize just how much my most recent runs have blown my high school distances out of the water.

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) May 12, 2016