It's a networking thing

In the last ten years a huge thing has happened to the world! I’m not talking about the global recession, how Al Gore has made us more aware of global warming or the Twilight series - no I’m talking about social networking. How did we live without checking our Facebook page 200 times a minute? Times must have been tough in the nineties! 

We are now in a time where we can always stay connected with friends, family, work mates or someone we met at a party when we were fifteen. So how can we use this ‘connectability’ to help us achieve in exercise? 

One of the rules that you will read in any goal setting book is that you should tell your world about your goals.  Once you put it out there it’s real. While I don’t know if that is totally true for everyone I do think there’s value in letting people know what you are trying to achieve. It’s a scary thing to do because you don’t want to look like you have failed if you don’t achieve it but you’ll find that if you put it out there people will be supportive towards your goal. If you share the good and the bad of your journey you can feel more supported and you may find that you are inspiring those around you. 

What’s great in this time is that there are so many online tools that can help to communicate your progress. A website like Athlinks.com (like a Facebook for athletes) finds your race results and makes it easy for you to write reports and so on. Then there are tools like the Nike Plus which will measure your runs and then upload them to a website that you can share and compare with your own running network. 

While putting your goal ‘out there’ is one way to use social networks, it is not the only way;  rivalry with a mate, connecting with your sport club members or letting people know some great information about your own sport on the web, information on upcoming races or looking for team mates. This connection with others can be a new form of motivation to get out there when things are getting tough.

You’ll find that by connecting with others who share similar interests and who may be on a similar path you will feel part of a community and when we are trying to achieve a goal, it helps to have as much support around us as possible!