Sisyphus loved his boulder

Every Friday, we share strategies to help you level up your sales & marketing.

This week, Katie shares an important lesson in goal setting. Enjoy 👇

It’s finally in the books…

This week, I signed up for a spring marathon (I still don’t understand why it's so expensive).

This will be my second marathon, and honestly, I'm already nervous.

See, the first marathon I did, my knee gave out on mile 19. I was limp-running the last 7 miles, as my femur and tibia were shredding against each other (not really, but it felt like that).

I still finished, but only because a couple running next to me offered me their bag of loose Advil (yes, I took drugs from strangers).

I love running, but that was the most I’ve run since. 

Although I’ve completed PT, been consistently strength training, and follow a regular running schedule, there’s still this nagging feeling that my knee is going to combust again at any moment.

Last weekend, I told my non-runner friend that I was training for another one, but I’m terrified of getting hurt again and not hitting the times I want.

She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Then just don’t do it.”

I was baffled. Of course, I have to do it. 

Years ago, I gave myself a goal of sub-4 hours for a full marathon. I can’t quit now. I still haven’t done it.

And you know what? When I do hit under 4 hours, an automatic new goal will appear for me to beat that new time. 

And after I beat that time, I’ll have a new goal to beat again and so on and so on…

Of course, I’m nervous of failure, but I’m more nervous of stagnation. Of never reaching the heights that I know I can reach.

I remember reading “So Many Olympic Exertions” by Analise Chen (who was also a professor of mine a few years ago, she’s epic).

In one section of her book, she talks about Albert Camus’s myth of Sisyphus’s constant suffering. 

In Greek mythology, the gods punished Sisyphus by forcing him to roll a boulder up a hill, only for it to always roll back down when he was close to the top.

Albert Camus, the philosopher, argued that Sisyphus finds freedom and happiness, accepting the absurdity of his life.

The book took it one step further and asked, What if Sisyphus was an athlete?

What if he kept track of the time it took him to push it up the hill from start to finish? What if every time he pushed it up, he tried being faster and faster?

Sisyphus, punished to try and complete an impossible task, may have found true purpose, and from that dependable motivation. Maybe he counted every step on his way up, trying to lessen his steps each time?

Maybe the goal was to perfect his form, to slow his heart rate, or to steady his breath?

That’s the mindset of a competitor. Of an achiever.

Setting your own goal posts and always resetting them further once you come close.

Each goal should always be moving and always unreachable.

This goes beyond any physical goal; this is the system of success in every walk of life. 

If you’re a B2B company, a thought-leader, or a brand looking to scale, the objective should never be accomplished.

Never say, “I want to reach X amount of followers on LinkedIn by January.”

Say, “I want to double the followers I had three months ago.” 

This goal will always be moving. No specific mark in time. Three months ago will always be a new three months ago, no matter the date.

You can’t say. “I want X amount of sales by March.”

You have to reframe, “Every 6 months, we will double our sales.” 

Gold medal in hand, a true competitor is thinking about how they’ll move differently next time. How they’ll be even faster, even stronger.

So, I signed up for my second marathon. And I’ll be faster this time.

And the marathon I’ll do after that, I’ll be even faster.

In life, there should always be a new goalpost. Success should never be enough. 

That’s where true achievement and purpose are found.

Keep getting better.

–Katie