Vision and Successive Short-Term Goals:
Endurance Sports, Academics, Grant Management, Being a Mom
Sarah N. Keller, Ph.D., Department of Communication & Theater, Montana State University Billings
As a life-long endurance athlete, a mom, and a communications professor (Department of Communication & Theatre, Montana State University Billings), I often have challenges balancing the competing demands for my time and attention. Establishing vision and setting short-term goals – two main principles of MOVE! – are key to achieving that balance. I have developed many life skills through athletics that I am able to apply to other areas of my life.
Vision
Establishing a vision in athletics has helped me do the same in academic research. I’ve competed recently in long-distance mountain bike races such as the Dakota Five-0 in Spearfish, SD, and numerous ultra-running races, including the Big Horn 50 km in Sheridan, WY, the Elkhorn 50 km in Antelope Island, UT, and Le Grizz 50-Miler in Seeley Lake, MT. Before and during a race, I practice envisioning myself finishing strong, finishing first, with a smile on my face. I visualize the time I would like to see at the end on a clock or watch. I imagine how I will feel when I have achieved my goal. Clear visions have helped me stay focused through the long-term training plans. At the same time, at work I manage long-term research projects, including a suicide prevent project.
Envisioning the end outcome in a deliberate way has helped me stay focused throughout sustained research projects. Rather than getting easily frustrated by mishaps that occur in my work focus on the end goal of a multi-year project helps everyone, including my students. When collecting data recently on a suicide prevention project*, I was able to sustain motivation among my graduate students by keeping our team focused on the potential impact (both academically and in terms of saving lives) that we might generate through our hard work.
To introduce vision to my research team, I had graduate students meet together and discuss possible outcomes that they would like to see occur as a result of their participation in the project. These goals became hopes that we then referred to throughout our study. By constantly keeping sight of the ideal outcome (a time goal, a race victory, or a series of published journal articles), the deliberate use of vision has helped me achieve goals.
Setting Successive Short-term Goals
Setting successive short-term goals is something I’ve always done in athletics, and my experience there has inspired me to do the same in my career. Endurance training has taught me the value of short-term goals and the value of organization and planning. Training for a 50-mile running race requires long-term dedication and sub-goals, such as achieving a 3-4-hour run weekly, and 2-hour runs mid-week, during the ramping up phase. I have learned to set short-term goals at work as well. When working on federal grants, for example, I break down the project into sub-projects and tasks, keeping every step organized with a timeline and clear delineation of responsibilities.
When I’m not being an athlete or professor, I’m using MOVE! principles to help be the best mom I can be to my two girls, Chloe, 10, and Cale, 5. Each principle seems to ebb and flow in the parenting arena, but I try my best to give myself permission when I mess up. Visualizing – and reminding myself to think about -- the positive experiences that we have had together, as mother and daughters, helps me move past our limitations and mishaps.
- S.N.K.
*Let’s Talk Billings, supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM10347
Vision and Successive Short-Term Goals:
Endurance Sports, Academics, Grant Management, Being a Mom
Sarah N. Keller, Ph.D., Department of Communication & Theater, Montana State University Billings
As a life-long endurance athlete, a mom, and a communications professor (Department of Communication & Theatre, Montana State University Billings), I often have challenges balancing the competing demands for my time and attention. Establishing vision and setting short-term goals – two main principles of MOVE! – are key to achieving that balance. I have developed many life skills through athletics that I am able to apply to other areas of my life.
Vision
Establishing a vision in athletics has helped me do the same in academic research. I’ve competed recently in long-distance mountain bike races such as the Dakota Five-0 in Spearfish, SD, and numerous ultra-running races, including the Big Horn 50 km in Sheridan, WY, the Elkhorn 50 km in Antelope Island, UT, and Le Grizz 50-Miler in Seeley Lake, MT. Before and during a race, I practice envisioning myself finishing strong, finishing first, with a smile on my face. I visualize the time I would like to see at the end on a clock or watch. I imagine how I will feel when I have achieved my goal. Clear visions have helped me stay focused through the long-term training plans. At the same time, at work I manage long-term research projects, including a suicide prevent project.
Envisioning the end outcome in a deliberate way has helped me stay focused throughout sustained research projects. Rather than getting easily frustrated by mishaps that occur in my work focus on the end goal of a multi-year project helps everyone, including my students. When collecting data recently on a suicide prevention project*, I was able to sustain motivation among my graduate students by keeping our team focused on the potential impact (both academically and in terms of saving lives) that we might generate through our hard work.
To introduce vision to my research team, I had graduate students meet together and discuss possible outcomes that they would like to see occur as a result of their participation in the project. These goals became hopes that we then referred to throughout our study. By constantly keeping sight of the ideal outcome (a time goal, a race victory, or a series of published journal articles), the deliberate use of vision has helped me achieve goals.
Setting Successive Short-term Goals
Setting successive short-term goals is something I’ve always done in athletics, and my experience there has inspired me to do the same in my career. Endurance training has taught me the value of short-term goals and the value of organization and planning. Training for a 50-mile running race requires long-term dedication and sub-goals, such as achieving a 3-4-hour run weekly, and 2-hour runs mid-week, during the ramping up phase. I have learned to set short-term goals at work as well. When working on federal grants, for example, I break down the project into sub-projects and tasks, keeping every step organized with a timeline and clear delineation of responsibilities.
When I’m not being an athlete or professor, I’m using MOVE! principles to help be the best mom I can be to my two girls, Chloe, 10, and Cale, 5. Each principle seems to ebb and flow in the parenting arena, but I try my best to give myself permission when I mess up. Visualizing – and reminding myself to think about -- the positive experiences that we have had together, as mother and daughters, helps me move past our limitations and mishaps.
- S.N.K.
*Let’s Talk Billings, supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM10347