Telic or atelic?

[All uphill]

Not terms I'd ever come across before reading an article by Tim Harford today.

Telic activities are about targets and goals.

Atelic activities are about the enjoyment of the journey.

Which is it for you? Or are you a bit of both?

 

[Oldhippy]

Most definitely the latter.

 

[Panscrank]

But of both but leaning heavily towards the enjoyment end

 

[sevenfourate]

Formerly in my younger / peak of condition / pub-bragging days: the former.

Now in my pot bellied, bald , stiff jointed: increasing age and ailment years - the latter !

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I need a target or goal event before I’ll train. No target no training. Thus telic from that point of view. But I also enjoy the journey of getting fit enough for an event I’m targeting. I enjoy the goal event in terms of the moments when taking part. Thus atelier from that point of view.

Achieving a goal is neither here nor there, or rather temporary, though some big ones make you smile inside; the memory of the experience stays with you forever.

 

[ColinJ]

I didn't know those words, but it has been pointed out to me (and I agree) that my problem is that I tend to be strongly 'telic'...

This is actually a BIG problem for me. For example, I have owned guitars for 55 years but I still cannot play a single song/tune/piece! Most people just pick up their guitar and enjoy the process of learning. Blow enjoyment - I used to draw up elaborate timescales and force myself to stick to them no matter what. I would get so far but inevitably eventually miss a practice session and that was my masterplan ruined. I would give up in disgust and not touch the guitar for a year...

University... a very TELIC experience! My plan was to get a degree in electronic engineering, so I sat in my flat by myself for 3 years and did just that. Result? I have a BSc in electronic engineering... My memories of being at university? Miscellaneous engineering lectures! I made no friends, I joined no clubs, went to no concerts, avoided the bars. I lived in Manchester/Salford less than a mile from The Haçienda and I didn't even know that it existed!

That is why I started organising forum rides. Left to my own devices, I would be formulating impossibly hard training plans and forcing myself to do horribly taxing rides in a ridiculous attempt to become an ageing super-athlete. The inevitable failure would probably put me off cycling for good! Meandering about the countryside with friendly people and stopping for cake seems like a much better idea!

 

[presta]

Telic reminds me of peak-bagging and ticking off the Wainwrights as a fellwalker, and ticking off all the Youth Hostels as a cycle tourist, but atelic reminds me of something someone said to me at York YHA.

When I told him I'd cycled up from home in Essex he asked why I hadn't just put the bike on the train.

 

[Venod]

I would have to say a bit of both.
I have been telic by setting a goal of 8000 mile this year.
I have been atelic by enjoying the journey of achieving the goal.

 

[Salad Dodger]

That's interesting @ColinJ , because I am an amateur guitarist/ ukuleleist/ bass guitarist and very much Atelic in my approach. I have never taken the trouble to learn to read music, or to relentlessly practice scales for technical perfection. I am much more of a "let's all just play the song, no matter how well or badly" approach to playing.
But, as I can't sing for toffee, and I know it, there's no point in setting myself a stretching target of performing something perfectly, and wowing an audience. I just content myself with bumbling through stuff. Just getting right through a song, albeit not perfectly, is a victory for me.....

 

[ColinJ]

That's interesting @ColinJ , because I am an amateur guitarist/ ukuleleist/ bass guitarist and very much Atelic in my approach. I have never taken the trouble to learn to read music, or to relentlessly practice scales for technical perfection. I am much more of a "let's all just play the song, no matter how well or badly" approach to playing.

A friend of mine was visiting. She noticed one of my guitars in its stand, where it always is, and asked if she could have a go on it. She only knew 2 or 3 chords. Every time she has visited since then she has had another go and I can hear the improvements she has made just doing that. I must change my attitude and start again.

 

[All uphill]

I found the article interesting because I mostly worked in environments where targets were all important, and I couldn't understand why people were dashing around trying to achieve those targets, however arbitrary they seemed to be. Probably explains why I was made redundant three times.

All about the journey for me.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I have no idea what it says about me, but when I considered the question, all I could think was that if Apple did an app for people to work out this question, it'd be the italic.

 

[PaulSB]

I would be both. I usually have an event I've targeted for the year which I train for - 2021 was completing the Fred, 2022 was a five hour century. I'll do enough riding of a type to put me in the right place to achieve the goal.

The rest of the time it's just a question of having fun. It's a blend which suits me.

 

[pjd57]

I'm a Celic man ....from Glasgow

 

[Teamfixed]

Better to travel hopefully than to arrive.