When was the last time you had a goal that you really wanted to get done? Working your ass off until finally one day you got there, you finished it.
Think about the moment you actually got to that point.
How did you feel?
How did you feel directly after that moment?
Happy? Excited? Sad? Underwhelmed?
Let’s go deeper using money as an example. You have a certain dollar amount you are aiming for, whether that is income or savings. All year you put in LONG days of work just to reach that target. Doing whatever you have to do to get a step closer each day.
Finances? Isn’t this a fitness blog?
How Bad Do You Want It?
You are waking up early, going to bed late, maximizing your efficiency at any given hour. To be honest, It might be some of the most productive times you’ve ever had, and all because you “need” to hit that goal.
Changing your spending habits, your investing, even the presents you give out for birthdays (people might not forgive this one).
FINALLY!
Then it happens, you reached your goal! Yeah, you are proud of yourself, but you don’t feel like you thought you would. No over the moon excitement or big sigh of relief that you made It. More or less, it’s right back to work, things don’t stop just because you hit your financial numbers for the year.
All that determination and effort builds up until that final point where you realize you hit your goal. It’s not all for nothing, you did some great work over that course of time and accomplished something big!
But now what?
I hope we know that I am not going to continue on about finances here because I am definitely not qualified for that. So let’s reel this back into fitness. Instead of thinking of a financial goal, think of a weight loss goal. Everything else can stay the exact same.
- You set out to lose “x” amount of weight
- You work your ass off doing whatever It takes
- You reach that number on the scale!
How do you feel? Usually what happens at this point is less of excitement and more of a dissatisfied feeling. As if you could have done more. You should have pushed harder and lost even more weight.
So, Where Do You Go From Here?
Now, you could make another lofty goal and go through the same process of putting in MASSIVE amounts of work just to feel like you could have done more.
OR… you could take a different route.
What I like to do instead of having just one big objective goal is to make another, deeper, longer term, goal.
I’m also making sure that these goals differ enough where I am not just chasing the hamster wheel. For example, I am not making my first goal to lose 10lbs and my second goal to lose 20lbs. This will just keep me feeling the exact same way every time I reach that point.
I love Groundhog Day, but I don’t want to live It.
In most cases this longer term goal will be more subjective. That could be something along the lines of being more athletic or improving mobility. I will know if I am on the right track for these goals but there is no real “end point”.
Just because you can touch your toes doesn’t mean you beat the mobility game.
Let’s Take This A Step Further
Along with being more subjective, that longer term goal is going to be a LOFTY one. Something that I can pursue for a LONG TIME. It’s always on the horizon, and always keeps me striving forward.
Now, with that lofty goal, you can use the short term, objective goals in two different ways.
First Method:
Use It for things you want to achieve with your body.
- Hitting a certain body weight
- Losing “x” amount of body weight
- Being “x” percent body fat
Things that you can achieve in the short term AND have a set end point.
Second Method:
Use it for things you want to achieve with your performance.
- Squat your bodyweight for 10 reps
- Be able to do “x” amount of push-ups
- Be able to do “x” amount of chin-ups
Both of these types of methods are quantitative making them objective. Either you did/got to that point or not. But having these two types of goals that differ from body and performance can make a BIG difference, especially if you find yourself obsessing over one compared to the other.
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If you are someone who is always chasing a certain body weight or body style goal, flip the script. Put your focus on your performance with your short term goals and leave your body out of the equation for a while.
Do what you can to avoid looking in the mirror or stepping on the scale. Let yourself work and be honest with how you think things are going based off how your feel over how you look.
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Long Term Goals
As we said above, these long term goals should be LOFTY. Something that you really want to make happen, but know deep down that It will take a LONG TIME. Hence the “long term” portion of this goal.
It’s not something you are going to achieve this month.
This year.
Hell, maybe even not this decade.
But it’s there, in the background of your thoughts, driving you forward day over day. Let’s take my long term goals for example.
- Be as mobile, strong, and in the best health as possible
What’s my end point? I have no clue.
How do you know when you made It? I never will.
So why the hell are you doing It? It keeps me going.
What’s the point?
This comes up in my mind a lot. What is the point? Why make goals that I will never truly be able to reach?
This goes back to what I say often–
”It’s more about the process than It is about the end result”
These goals will keep me chasing new heights, but because they aren’t going to be technically “reached” I will stay in the process the majority of the time.
- I can always be MORE mobile than I am today
- I can always be STRONGER than I am today
- I can always be IN BETTER health than I am today
You can think of someone who plays video games or someone who likes jigsaw puzzles. Actually playing the game or putting together that puzzle is always more enjoyable than the end result.
The end result is just something that happens, and it’s usually a let down.
This is why I love subjective, long term goals. You are always chasing improvement instead of just that end result. There is no let down from getting better, but there is a a great deal of let down when you finally reach the end point of something you have been working hard towards.
Going back to my three goals, knowing that I have the ability to be better than I am right now keeps me wanting more, always. Can the same be said for something that has an objective end point?
In my eyes, no. But I have been wrong before (and I will be wrong again).
When I work with people who have a clear cut set destination, I love trying to flip the focus like we discussed above. Not necessarily changing their goal but diving deeper to uncover a subjective matter behind the objective goal.
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You: My goal is to lose 20lbs
Me: Why do you want to lose 20lbs?
You: So I can look good in a bathing suit this summer.
Me: I love that, but why 20lbs exactly?
You: Because once I lose that weight I will have the body I want.
Me: Would you be upset if your body looked the way you wanted but you only
ended up losing 10lbs?
You: No, I would be so excited! I just really want to get rid of this extra fat and
tone my muscles some more. Feeling confident in the summer is tough for me, but I think this
will help.
Me: Alright, that is great! We CAN get there. To start out, I want us to focus on
the things that will get your body changing in the right direction. The weight
loss will happen along the way, but our main priorities will be away from the
scale and onto things like strength, movement, and how you feel. How does
that sound to you?
You: That sounds perfect, I am excited to get started!
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I hope we can all realize this wasn’t a real conversation I just had with someone. But It gives an example of how we can readjust our goals to start focusing on things away from just the numbers.
Long term goals vs short term goals
Objective goals vs subjective goals
Performance goals vs quantitative goals
Not one is better nor worse than the other, they are just different. The bigger difference between these goals is how you apply and use them to propel yourself forward. If It works for you, then keep on going!
The purpose of this article is to get you thinking differently about how you are planning your goals. Our goals are something that drive us to get to a certain point within our lives. They give us direction, purpose, and reason behind our actions.
It might not be true for everyone, but for me and the people I work with, goals are more than important. How will I know where to focus our training and nutrition if I don’t know what you are looking to accomplish down the line.
Away from that point, I also don’t want people feeling dissatisfied if the only thing driving them forward was a certain number on the scale. Find a way to utilize these different types of goals to keep you working hard for a LONG TIME.
Your goals don’t have to be specific. They don’t have to be broad. What they have to do is help you get to a place where you feel happy each day trying to get better.
In good health,
Jeff
