The importance of setting a goal

[BuggerOff]

This started as a reply to a thread, but I think it's a point that really can't be understated at all, so I made it a new thread. Note, this is all my opinion (much of which I have formed from reading books and stuff, I didn't just make it up off the top of my head ), I'm not trying to preach and be a "Buddha on the mountain top" telling everyone else how it is, I'm just passing on a few things that I picked up in my experiences. Disagree and discard this information at will!

There's one tip that I think is vitally important. And that is setting a concrete goal and writing it down. This just can not be emphasised enough.

Not just "I want to lose weight" either. Write it down in detail. How much weight? By when? How? Do you allow yourself "cheat days"? How many? What days are they? etc. etc. You have to be specific. "I want to be skinny", or "I want to look like Brad Pitt from Fight Club by next year" is not going to cut it. If that's your goal, you want "to be 7% body fat by 7 Dec, 2004".

These things are vitally important IMHO. Your mind simply cannot act on a vague goal. For example, my goal is to be at 12% body-fat by January 25th, 2004. I've also detailed my plan of action (2 weights sessions/wk, 3 30min cardio sessions/wk and 10X my bodyweight in calories/wk).

Another point is don't set yourself unrealistic goals. Do a bit of research. Post a thread here and ask people, "is this goal realistic?". Setting unrealistic goals is just asking to fail. Set a realistic, achievable goal. And don't be scared to make it a little "easy". With each successful goal met, your confidence grows and grows.

Read your goal aloud to yourself everyday. This might sound really stupid, but it really does have a profound psychological effect. There's absolutely no point in making a goal and writing it down if yo don't read it to yourself.

If you don't believe this works, just try it for a week or two. After a while you realise you have become obsessed with your goal, as if everything else in your life has the volume turned down except the things relating to your goal. That's probably why I spend so much time on here! It really works!

Pick up any one of those new-age motivational success manuals and I can almost guarantee that there will be a whole chapter on goal setting. Usually several chapters. It has been used by entrepreneurs, athletes and movie stars for decades. I don't claim to know the exact phycology behind it all, but I do know it keeps you motivated over long periods of time instead of having a short 2-week burst of inspiration.

I keep my goal in a word file on my computer desktop and read it everyday. Many people keep theirs in their wallet or taped on the wall/fridge or whatever. I've even heard of people cutting out photographs of "what they want to look like" by the date of their "goal time" and sticking it on the wall or in their wallet. Personally, I can't quite bring myself to stick a photo of some male model flexing his abs on my wall. LOL But people do actually do this, I've seen it personally many times.

Again and again you will hear successful people talking about the importance of setting goals. This is not a section to "skip over". There is a reason they rate it so highly: it works.

After-all, how can you possibly achieve anything if you don't even know what it is you're trying to achieve!?

Whatever you do, don't quit your goal just because you slipped up once or twice! Keep at it. Promise yourself you won't do it again. Consistency is the key. Even if you do slip up, it's not going to matter much in the long run. But it will if you keep slipping up. It's not an incredibly important point, however. This is part of the "magic" of goal setting. You're so focussed on your goal, you rarely allow yourself to slip up.

That being said, there's no use in feeling desolate and like a failure if you don't reach your goal. Nobody can ever succeed without first failing. If you've never failed, it just means you've never tried. A goal is a plan. If it doesn't work, make a new one. Don't give up on life.

My 2 cents. Hope it helps someone.

[Corbint]

One of my goals is "to never look like I looked the day I change my lifestyle, ever again"...

I have this great pic of me, fat, nasty, unshaven, looking like utter sh!t. It is now the desktop on my work pc, and on my 21" monitor, it looks FABULOUS!!! I get constant reminders to keep my a$$ moving.

Its kinda like in bootcamp in the Marine Corps... As long as you run fast enough to stay in front of the Drill Instructors, you are "safe"... If you fall behind, game over.

Im running from that pic, and yes, Im looking back baby, cuz I always want to ensure the distance between me and the photo is getting larger, not smaller.

[Nando5944]

My goal is to lose some more body fat and get my deadlifts and bench press up. I too keep a couple of pics of me when I was overweight.

[truushot]

My goal is to lose some more body fat and get my deadlifts and bench press up. I too keep a couple of pics of me when I was overweight.

9 year thread bump.... Strong!!