Goals and How to Use Them for Success!

Yesterday I spoke about motivation and the different ways you can achieve it. I mentioned that the most important way to stay motivated is through setting goals. Today I'm going to elaborate on this very crucial aspect of your training.

Why set goals?

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, goals give you a sense of direction, not only in the gym, but in all aspects of your life. We all have some idea in our head of what we want to look like, how we want to feel , or what we want to accomplish. For many of you, it is the reason why you train, or the reason why you decided to start training. This is a very good start, but you can always take it a step further with specificity. Being specific with your goals is an age old secret that many successful people use to achieve there goals. This can be broken down into three categories, Long, medium, and short-term goals. Be as specific withe the goals as possible. Write down all your goals and circle the ones that are most important to you. Now make a separate column for each one of those circled goals, and write down what you are going to do each day to help you move one step closer to achieving it.

Take a piece of paper and a pen, and write three columns, Long-term goals, Medium-term goals, Short-terms goals. 


Long-term goals are goals you want to accomplish within 3-5 years

Medium-term goals are goals you want to accomplish within 1-3 years

Short-term goals are goals you want to accomplish within 3 months to a year

Now there is one more category I haven't mentioned and it is one that will bring you great satisfaction.
Immediate goals! What are your immediate goals? These are goals that you would like to accomplish within the first 3 months of training, or even as specific as on a daily basis. An example of an immediate goal could be that you want to hit the gym 4 days this week. Immediate goals should be written and looked at daily to keep you motivated. The simple act of writing down your goals will do wonders for you psychology and motivate you to keep you driving for the next little step.

Remember, you can only move one step at a time. If you have a long-term goal to gain 30lbs of muscle, you can only do it one pound at a time. The question you should ask yourself is, what can I do today to help me move closer to my goal? Often times we become fixated on the end result and if we do not get the immediate gratification of getting to where we want to be, we become unmotivated and we begin to doubt our capabilities. The trick is to take little tiny steps and set individual goals that get you closer to where you want to be every single day. Not only will this help you move closer to your goal, it will help you develop good habits and a steady routine. We all know the way to fitness success is through hard work and consistency, but we often let our emotions get the better of us, and we lose faith in ourselves.

Think of your body as the vehicle and the goals you've set as the driver of that vehicle. You can't get to where you want to go without the driver of your vehicle right?

Another important tip is to not set limits on yourself. You are capable of anything as long as you've set your heart and mind to it. You'd be amazed at what you can achieve by simply thinking you can achieve anything. Thinking or even saying "I can't do that" or "this isn't for me" is only re-enforcing the subconscious mind that you can't do something. This is the worst thing you can do for yourself. Re-enforce your subconscious with positivity. Say to yourself "I can do anything" or "If he can do it, I can to."

Many times we have the belief in others, but we tend to be harder on ourselves. You would never tell your friend, "You can't do that" or "your dreaming." Why? Because we our making objective observations. It is easy to make decisions when our emotions aren't involved. You can achieve ANYTHING you set your mind to. Believe in yourself, set goals, and watch the positive changes in your life unfold before your eyes!