“You can’t hit a target that you can’t see” – I can hear the voice of Zig Ziglar saying those very words. “You gotta have a goal – and you have to picture what achieving that goal looks like.”

But what happens when you reach that goal? It feels great, you have a sense of accomplishment, you enjoy the moment. And afterwards, it’s not uncommon to feel a little bit of a letdown as you consider, “Now what?”

Part of what keeps us motivated and energized is to set new challenges for ourselves – goals that really stretch us, goals that require us to test our limits. The goals have to be hard. There is much more pleasure in realizing how much we are capable of achieving than there is in doing something that doesn’t require a lot of effort.

Now that I’ve run my first 50K on difficult trails, my next pursuit is to conquer a 50-mile race. This new challenge is not something that will be easy for me, but I love to stretch myself – I love the challenge. I remember when I ran my first 5K. At the time, I thought, “Man, this is really  hard.” But I went on to run 10Ks, half marathons, marathons, and ultramarathons – each time, going just a little farther than I thought I could at the time.

Obviously, I didn’t jump from the 5K to the 50K. Nothing happens overnight. Every time you set new goals, you build on all your past experiences. So, as you consider your new challenges – whether it’s losing 5 pounds or walking a mile without stopping – use the skills, knowledge, and confidence you gained through other endeavors, and you will be successful in your new pursuit.