Reduce your Goals

We have all heard that we should set massive goals, goals so big that it scares us. Shoot for the moon, if you miss at least you will be with the stars, yada, yada, yada.

I am all for goal setting and setting huge goals, but there is something that I have found out over the course of these goals. One, when I hit a snag I get discouraged. If I miss a day or if you overly cheat on your diet, it is too easy to stop and say I have already missed a day, what is another day?

So the habit change you are looking for gets squashed quickly and may not get a revival.

I have been reading Jon Acuff’s book Finish and he has a great idea. Instead of setting huge reach for the star type goals. Create sub goals that are a fraction of the whole goal. For instance if you want to lose 10 lbs. in 5 months cut it down to only 5lbs. in 6 months By doing this you create a more realistic goal, something that should be easier to obtain, or at least get closer to. This will also help maintain momentum as you tear through the goals.

I can see how this concept will work, especially with the momentum. You want to create small wins. Wins that you can build on. You sometimes see this in college football where a no name school will play a national powerhouse. Of course the national powerhouse blows the no name school away. Some coaches have been heard saying that these games are confidence builders (for the powerhouse, of course). They want the team to feel what it is like to win. Because when they play teams of equal or better capabilities they need to learn on these mental and emotional feelings they have from these easier games.

The other aspect the Jon mentions is that you have to make these fun. Your goal has to be rewarding, but so does the journey to get there. In fact, I would attest that it is more important to make the journey fun then the destination. It will be in your best interest to take the time to figure out how to make the journey fun. Is it the activity, do you set up mini games and rewards along the way. Let your mind go crazy and have fun with it.

Think about the above paragraph. Let’s say you want to lose weight, like we talk about earlier, but part of the weight loss regiment is to drastically change you eating habits, so much so, that you are now eating foods that you never would have. These foods do not appeal to your appetite and you dread each time you have to eat. Now if this was you how long would you stay on this diet? If it were me I would not last more than 3 or 4 days tops. However, if diet regiment did not require me to change what I eat, just how much, the likely hood of me continuing is much greater. I certainly can go along with less of what I enjoy then to cut it all out cold turkey and eat something that I don’t like.

So when you start planning your next goal, think about the two points above. Set the stretch goal, but bring it back down to reality, make it winnable. Then make sure the sacrifices you have to make do not make the journey painful. Cut back on the things you love, but don’t eliminate them. Enjoy the journey!