Busy morning in the gym as I write this so the energy is good 🙂
I was just talking to a client who, although he is only with us 3 weeks, has already hit his first goal and now has his eyes firmly fixed on his next.
You might be thinking that it must have been a small goal if he has hit it already……… and you’d be right! It was a small goal and that’s where the magic lies for most people.
You see, choosing a big goal is great. It’s a final outcome that you’s like to arrive at in a few months down the line. It keeps you on track and focused and is a great way to pass away the evenings. But what most people fail to realise is that the best way to achieve a big goal is to focus on achieving lots of little goals along the way.
For example, losing 3 stone of fat is much more achievable and actionable when you break it up into losing 1/2 stone every month.
If your goal is to give your nutrition habits a complete overhaul, it becomes much easier to focus on drinking 2 litres of water daily for a week before moving on than it is to start drinking your water, quitting chocolate, learning 3 new breakfast and lunch recipes and prepping your food daily all in the space of that same week.
Get the idea?
Small goals build confidence and momentum due to the fact that they aren’t very difficult to do. Because of this people achieve them fairly easily and start thinking “That was no big deal. I said I would do (insert small goal) and I did it. Plus I feel more energised and confident of taking on my next goal.”
So they then pick their next goal which again, isn’t that difficult. What do you think is going to happen? They’re going to achieve that as well because they are confident from their last victory and the momentum is building up. Before long, small goal number 2 has been ticked off the list resulting in even more energy, confidence and momentum!!
Of course, what’s easy for one person mightn’t be easy for another which is why you need to choose your goals based on your current starting point, your mindset, etc.
If you follow this simple, common sense advice you will see your health and fitness snowball beyond anything you previously thought possible for you. You’ll never feel overwhelmed with too much to do, will feel your confidence build up week after week, will enjoy the process so much more, get an understanding of how you works in ways that most people will never know and you will absolutely SMASH your goals.
I’ve seen people go from doubting their ability to drink 2 litres of water a day to telling me their new goal is to smash out a 200kg deadlift.
I’ve had a clients who couldn’t make themselves a sandwich achieve 10% body fat!
Unreal results, but because they focused on achieving small little milestones on a consistent basis, these bigger goals just crept up on them as if it was no big deal.
Don’t get me wrong. There absolutely is a time for taking massive action but for 99.9% of people it’s simply the wrong approach in my opinion. Fast results obtained by completely overhauling everything in one go usually don’t last past a few short weeks or months.
Slow it down. Focus on developing 1 or 2 quality habits. Set a small, manageable goal. Achieve it. Move on and repeat.
Have a great day.
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