Goal-setting is an important element to your overall well-being and pursuit of a clean, healthy lifestyle.
However, setting yourself goals and actually putting aside the time, effort and motivation to achieve them are two entirely separate, and often contrasting, elements. Setting targets for yourself is hard-coded into your DNA and applicable to practically every element of your life. If you want to eat better, for example, that goal can only be achieved by mapping out a realistic meal plan and purchasing relevant ingredients in a supermarket.
The dogged pursuit of a task such as this when ordering a pizza can be easier is a simple example of goal-setting coupled with the necessary follow-through to achieve your aims — and this applies to your own personal exercise regime too.
Goal-setting isn’t the problem. That’s the easy part. It’s the execution of those goals where many of us find trouble.
How best to motivate yourself to pursue (and overcome) your challenges? Below are a few tips which can help you.
Be Aware of Your Limits
It is important to push yourself, so long as that happens within the framework of what your body will allow. Emotional exhaustion is a real thing and your brain will feed you with reasons why you can skip this workout, or you can disobey your own orders by ordering takeout for dinner. To remain consistently motivated, you must avoid burning yourself out.
Isolate Your Goals
What is it that you want to do? Are you training for a 5k, or perhaps you want to add some muscle to your frame or to drop some pounds? These goals are your end point and the methods your employ to get there are the journey. Each step you take along the way combines to one day achieving your goal — but it is important to be aware not just of the destination, but also of the journey.
Keep Your Focus
It is human nature to get distracted. This can (and will) come after a period of sustained concentration of a singular task, so it is important to be aware of the negative impact that distraction and the associated procrastination can have on you. Think of a loss of focus being like rust; it can happen easily but it’s important to not allow it to spread.
Identify Your Rewards
Is your 5k time improving? Or are you lifting more in the gym? Be aware of the improvements you are making as this is an ideal method of becoming aware of how exactly you are coming along in the gym (or whichever element of your life you are applying this to). There is no greater fill-up than actually seeing your hard work begin to pay or, something which will lead you to redoubling your efforts when you see your efforts beginning to register.
Don’t Be Afraid of Failure
Your balance of success and failure will define your goals. The fear of failure is an inherent one to all of us but to obsess over it is the worst thing you can do. You will have good days and you will have bad days but each defeat or setback your suffer along the way is a learning experience and entirely part of the process. Trust us, no one has ever had an unobstructed journey to achieve our goals but it is your reaction to problems which will take you one step closer to where you want to be.
