In running, many people dedicate hours everyday to achieve a specific race time and after they accomplish their goal they enter a period of hopelessness and loss of purpose following their triumph from achieving their goal. For example, I talked to someone who wanted badly to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He worked very hard to achieve this ultimate goal, the pinnacle of recreational running, and finally did. However, after achieving a Boston qualifier, he admittedly gave up the healthy lifestyle associated with running because he did not feel like he had any direction or purpose in running. As a result, he ran much slower in the Boston Marathon that he cared so much about qualifying for.
For whatever reason, it appears that many people do not run as well at the Boston Marathon as the preceding race to qualify for Boston because although the Boston course is not very fast, the average finishing time is consistently slower than the minimum time to qualify (source: http://www.runtri.com/2012/01/boston-marathon-average-finish-times-by.html). There are many potential factors contributing to the slower times, but perhaps the experiences described by the person I talked to explain why most people run so much slower than their best at the Boston Marathon.
4 comments:
Hi Samuel, happy Saturday. I think comparing a runner running a marathon to our discussion of working towards goals versus actually accomplishing them was a very valid and well thought point. However your analysis of how the two relate I wouldn’t necessarily agree with. I think that the way they really relate is in the exact argument we made last week: runner gets more satisfaction out of the process of training for marathons rather than actually accomplishing it. This may vary in truth between runners, however I would say that it’s still a valid point. After runner would finish a marathon, what would there be next? Running a second marathon in order to achieve a better time? Nah. It might feel good (well actually it probably physically feels like hell) for the 10 seconds after you finish.. knowing you finally reached that point. However what’s next? Probably a very unfulfilling feeling.
What’s wrong with you people! The goal is definitely where it’s at! Working towards a process is only so rewarding because of the goal. I don’t buy all of Underground Man’s talk that humans only care about the process. Yes, humans definitely enjoy the process, but I think they enjoy the final product much more. To me, there’s nothing better than working towards something and reaping the benefits of the hard work. Underground Man seems to think that humans cannot simultaneously love the process and the end result. I do not believe this is the case, however.
Interesting discussion, guys. I agree with you both in some ways. Often, it does seem as though humans care more about the process than the actual goal. I think it's really cool that you bring up this personal story, Samuel, as it gives us a tangible example of the feeling of meaninglessness following the completion of a task or reaching of a goal.
In Notes, as you've already pointed out, Underground Man agrees. Dostoevsky writes, "But man is a frivolous and unseemly creature and perhaps, like a chess player, he loves only the process of achieving his goal, and not the goal itself"(559). In MANY cases, I (kind of) agree with UM's point of view; for example, I often find that the process of learning and studying in school (and outside of school) is far more fulfilling than getting a good grade on a test or project. Of course, being rewarded for your hard work is great, but the process and knowledge gained is usually is rewarding as well (and sometimes more so). Still, humans definitely care about goals--because goals are often stepping stones, not stopping points. For example, I'm sure a goal all of us (on the blog) have in common is graduating from high school. And I highly doubt that the goal is not important; after all, achieving this goal will lead us to where we want to go next in our lives. Obviously, the process of completing high school taught us much more about ourselves than Graduation Day probably will, but that doesn't mean it won't feel good. Basically, I mean that the goal IS important.
Furthermore, I don't think the "process" is ALWAYS more satisfying than "achieving the goal." I think that most of us can agree that applying to college and writing what seems like hundreds of essays is stressful and not always enjoyable. In my case, achieving my "goal" (a.k.a. turning in my final application) felt way better than the process of applying to college. Trust me when I say that pressing that final "submit" button was a relief; the feeling was more satisfying than the feeling of applying. For a couple days after (it was Christmas break), I experienced an odd feeling--I felt like I should be applying to more colleges and writing more ridiculous essays. But I got over that feeling rather quickly and found more useful pursuits with which I could occupy my time.
I actual think that's the reason UM says "perhaps" in the quote I included above. Of course, maybe that's just a result of Dostoevsky's writing style in Notes or UM's insecurity (or superiority/inferiority confusion), but it's also possible that UM doesn't think it's ALWAYS true that the process is more satisfying than the goal. I sure don't. There are definitely exceptions.
While I don’t necessarily believe this is the reason for the discrepancy of slower times in the Boston Marathon, you do make a valid point in saying this. Perhaps some people DO only care about actually achieving the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon than actually participating in it. This clearly encapsulates the point that Dostoevsky was trying to make in Notes From Underground. As humans, I believe we naturally feel like we need to be doing something otherwise our life is meaningless. That is probably why we make goals in the first place. Thus, once we actually achieve that goal, we may feel pretty satisfied for a brief moment only to be overcome with the feeling that there’s nothing else to do. Normally, people may make another related goal to compensate for this feeling. In this person’s case, they’d try to run as fast as they could in the Boston Marathon by continuing training. But, this didn’t happen. What gives? I think this person may be an exception to the rule, or a least they reached a point that was enough for them to quit training. They may have set several goals for themselves as a runner and then finally set a goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. So, sometimes we do feel truly satisfied after accomplishing a certain goal and we feel like we’ve had enough. While I do believe that, most of the time, we do enjoy the process of going towards a goal more than actually obtaining it, I also believe that we reach a point that is satisfying for us to feel truly accomplished.
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