2019 is right around the corner.
That means, come Tuesday morning, most people are going to be working through their hangover to get started on the Resolutions they’ve set for themselves.
Which, in most cases, will mean dropping X number of pounds.
They’ll start a diet they hate, hit the gym a couple times, and end the week by binge-watching Netflix while eating junk food.
Why?
Because there’s nothing motivational about goals you can’t control.
And losing a specific amount of weight isn’t something we can control.
So, if you really want to get in shape, what goal *should* you set for yourself to get there?
Well, a buddy of mine was bragging to me the other day about how he lost 51 pounds this year.
He’s in the best shape of his life.
And he did it without a gym membership or a fancy diet.
He didn’t even set a goal to lose the weight.
He’d tried doing that the last 5 years (with the goal of only 25lbs), and always gave up. So he knew he needed a different approach.
So, what goal did he set instead of losing weight?
Just this: To start exercising every day.
That’s it.
And, since he’d tried and failed before, he knew it had to be a simple exercise routine.
So simple, in fact, that he’d never, ever, have an excuse not to do it.
So incredibly, brain-dead easy that he could do it every day, without fail, and maybe even *enjoy* doing it.
- 50 pushups.
- 50 body-weight squats.
- And a 1 miles walk.
Pretty easy, right?
And no special equipment or gym membership needed.
He could easily work this into his daily routine no matter what else was going on in his life.
It’s not very intense either.
But it didn’t need to be intense.
Consistency was the key.
He finally discovered that *consistent* daily actions – which he could completely control – provided way better results than focusing on one big goal (losing 25lbs) that he couldn’t directly control at all.
In less than one year, he more than *doubled* his initial goal – which he had always failed to achieve the old way.
So my point here is this:
Setting huge goals for yourself in 2019 might blow up in your face.
It’s just human nature.
We set a big goal, without a clear idea of how to reach it, and totally ignore the fact that we can’t actually *control* the outcome…
Then, when we don’t reach the outcome right away, we give up and feel like we’ve failed.
It’s way easier to focus on goals you *can control*.
It’s easier to stay motivated when your goal is to change one thing in your daily routine.
Because then every day is a success.
It pumps you up for the next day… and the next…
And before you know it, that consistent, daily action adds up to some major positive outcomes in your life.
So…
What big goals have you set for yourself in 2019?
Would your chances of success increase if you could break it down into a simple, daily routine that’s guaranteed to get you there (or beyond)… without all the pressure of focusing on the big goal itself?