Get Your Why Back

This week, an experienced ultrarunner in my Facebook group said something I’ve heard but never said.

“I’ve lost my Why - how do I get it back?”

I hear this so often that I decided to share what I told her and why I don’t say this.

First, “I’ve lost my Why,” isn’t a useful thought.

It assumes you can lose your reason for running like you misplace your car keys, which you can’t.

If you run because you love it, you still know why you run even if you’re not head over heels about it at the moment.

And even if you could lose your Why, talking about its absence doesn’t help you find it. It keeps you stuck where you are.

Instead, talk about what you want - “I’m getting it back, one day at a time.”

Second, what we’re really talking about here isn’t why you run - it’s your motivation.

And this may be shocking, but you can keep running without motivation.

We do that with all sorts of other things - take work for example. Most of us at times have lost motivation for work but that doesn't mean we stop going until motivation strikes. We go anyway because the long-term Why - money, career goals, etc. - is there even when the motivation is low.

And you want to keep running because third, I noticed back in high school that my desire to run ebbed and flowed, and every time I kept running, trusted the flow to return, and gave it time, it did. That approach has worked reliably over and over in the decades since.

If you think about it, our desire for everything comes and goes over time - favorite foods, relationships, jobs, projects...

For some reason, we assume our desire to run is the exception and should stay consistent. Or be like water you can turn on from the tap whenever you want.

Not being as motivated as you were last month doesn’t automatically mean you’ve lost it forever - you might be in an ebb and simply need to relax and let it cycle back to flow again.

Fourth, you don’t have to helplessly wait for the desire to return - you can create it.

Think about the energy you’re missing - excitement maybe, freedom or joy.

Then think what would create that energy.

Maybe it’s undoing a change, like backing off the extra miles you added so you wouldn’t have to worry you were doing enough.

Maybe it’s dropping expectations you placed on your training, like running it all a certain pace per mile, or expecting every run to be a good one?

Maybe it’s a change of scenery - running in a different location, or exploring a handful of new routes.

Whatever it is, choose it because it creates that spark of excitement.

The bottom line here is that “losing” your Why may not be the problem you think it is, and you can do something about it.

If you’ve lost your drive to train, race, or run and want to get it back, use this link to schedule a consult call.

Let’s talk about clearing the obstacles in your way to get you running like you want to be.