Often times when someone wants to achieve a goal, they focus on what the actual goal is; what the finish line is. When they think about how much work they’ll have to do to get there, they become overwhelmed and discouraged. I’m guilty of this, too.
Rather than focusing on where you want to be (goal – finish line), focus rather on just getting started. Don’t think about the 20 mile runs you’ll have to do during your marathon training program, just think about getting out the door to run for five minutes. Then continue to focus on those five minutes of running until you think, “hmm, this five minute run is kind of easy, I think I’ll go eight minutes today.”
Focusing on the starting line will help create a good habit. From there you can improve that habit, and run longer, but you need to have a running habit first. Getting to the starting line can be as much of a victory as getting to the finish line.