“Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade.” by Matthew Kelly from the book The Long View
This was a quote I couldn’t quite recall this morning when we were talking about goals. Most of us avoid setting goals because we overestimate what we can achieve in the short term, but underestimate what we can do in the long term. In my experience over the last 8 years, I’ve noticed a few main reasons why we don’t like setting goals for ourselves.
1) Previous Experiece: If you set a goal that isn’t achievable in a realistic time frame, it ends in disappointment and can make you reluctant to set yourself another goal. This is a big reason why we avoid setting goals – our past experience. We remember the disappointment we experienced and shy away from putting ourselves out there again in case we look silly to others. Which is silly in itself, because no one remembers. Also, the only person who really cared in the first place, was you! Everyone else’s opinion is irrelevant.
2) Artificial Dopamine High I’ve heard a couple of people say they avoid stating their goals publicly because they are aware that every time they tell someone their goal, they get a dopamine hit. This feel good hormone can then detract from the intensity or effectiveness of their process. So in our case – training. The idea is that all of these releases of dopamine can then reduce the feeling they’ll get from finally meeting their goal.
3) Accountability: The other big reason I’ve found that makes us reluctant to set goals is ACCOUNTABILITY. Once you tell someone else what your goal is, you’re suddently accountable. Are you going to do all in your power to achieve what you said you want to acheive? Many of us don’t really want accountability. We fear accountability. What if we don’t do what we said we would? We’ll look like we’re weak or even look like a liar. But the fact is there’s no shame in missing your goals you set for yourself. Anyone with ambition or who is trying is bound to fail to meet their goals some times, but even still, you can be sure they’ll get 90% further ahead than if they didn’t set a goal at all.
The big problem with internalising our goals and never stating them out loud is there is no consequence if you don’t apply yourself to the process. So if you tell yourself your goal is to deadlift 100kg, but you never tell anyone then it’s easier to skip sessions. It’s easier to eat poorly. More tempting to consume too much junk, neglecting protein, skipping sleep, etc. But if you tell your coach, a supportive family member, friend or class mate about your goal, they can check in with you if you miss a session and remind you of the goal you set for yourself and why. Knowing that others, who want the best for you, are aware of your goal will in itself be a motivating factor to keep you on track.
So as we head into 2025 I want to encourage you to set yourself goals. Big, small, and anything in between. If you’re not sure how, here is a practical example of how to do it. An example would be thinking of a big goal that currently seems unrealistic or unachievable “I want to be able to do a pull up.” That might seem a long way off, but what you could do would be to break it down into smaller goals. So from January until March, you were going to do banded pull ups 2-3 times each week. You’ll be hanging off a bar or rings any chance you get to build up your lat and grip strength.
You’ll practice Ring / TRX rows, gradually making them more difficult as you progress. You’ll get your deadlift stronger because this will strengthen many of the same muscles – lats, forearms, biceps, shoulders, core, upper back. At the same time, you might need to lose some unwanted bodyfat. If you weigh 120kg, with 50+% bodyfat, you don’t need me to tell you that pull yourself up is going to be easier if you lost some scale weight, especially if it comes from fat tissue.
At the end of March you could look at your plan and see how it’s going. Have you reduced the amount of help the bands are giving you from thicker stronger bands to thinner lighter bands? If everything has progressed as it should then you could start building up negative pull ups.
While the bands can help you get a feel for the movement, the negatives will massively increase the intensity you experience and will strengthen the same muscles needed for a full pull up. You’d build this up by doing slower reps, doing more reps, more sets until you get to somewhere between 8-10. Every month you’d assess how your bodyweight is. Is it coming down as it should? You’d figure out where you are weakest in the pull up movement and build strength in that range. For example, you struggle to get your chin over the bar. You could work reps in the top 40-50% of the movement. Every month you’ll improve and you’ll try to a full pull up, from deadhang and see how far you get, until one day, you don’t stop until you get your chin right over the bar.
You did it!
Then, you’ll try and do 2. Much easier process than getting the first one.
Then 3, then 4 then 5 etc etc. For whatever goal you can think of, we can work with you to set realistic mini goals along the way until you achieve the big one. Don’t fear setting goals. Chat to us and let us help you to set realistic time frames to achieve your goal in.
If you would like more help with setting and more importantly achieving goals that will improve your health, strength and fitness, drop us a message here.