Achieving complex and difficult goals requires focus, long-term diligence and effort. Success in any field requires forgoing excuses and justifications for poor performance or lack of adequate planning; in short, success requires emotional maturity. The measure of belief that people have in their ability to achieve a personal goal also affects that achievement.

Long-term achievements rely on short-term achievements. Emotional control over the small moments of the single day makes a big difference in the long term. – Achieving Personal Goals; Source: Wikipedia 

 

 You are all here because there is something you want to achieve; a goal. I have dedicated my professional life to helping people achieve their goals. Sometimes I still can’t believe it when I say it out loud like that – how lucky I am to be able to help people every day accomplish something they set out to do. To help them, to help YOU, achieve your goals.
One interesting thing I have found over the years, however, is that more often than not people don’t always know exactly what their goals are. They might have a general idea, but when it comes to goals, kind ofo/sort of having an idea of what you want to achieve isn’t going to cut it.

So I usually end up asking a lot of questions in order to get through the surface layers of “I want to lose weight,” or “I want to get in shape,” or “I want to feel better.” Those are great goals! But let’s be more specific.

 

ZERO IN ON YOUR GOAL

Take the goal of getting in shape, for example. That is a pretty broad, general goal and getting in shape can mean different things to different people. It can also require different processes depending on how out-of-shape a person is. For one person, it may mean joining a gym and picking up a dumbbell for the first time in their life at 45 years old. For another person, it may mean getting back in shape after having a baby.

 

The general goal of getting in shape can apply to a wide variety of people and – to be honest – it really isn’t specific enough to give someone a solid, achievable goal. Getting more specific with that goal begs the question “What do I need to DO to get in shape?”

 
HOW TO BE SPECIFIC

Here is where the more specific goals come into play, which are a critical ingredient in the goal-setting (and achieving) process. Achieving these smaller, more specific goals is what will enable you to succeed with the big, long-term, overall goal.

Let’s stick with the goal of getting in shape or – more specifically-  losing fat, building muscle, toning and tightening, and improving overall health and fitness. In order to achieve this, you would need to come up with a plan over a certain time period. This could be a year, 12 weeks, 30 days, etc.

If you give yourself a year to achieve the goal of being healthier and fitter, or getting in shape, it might be a good idea to break that up into 12-week time periods with a certain goal at the end of each 12-week block. Then break that down even more to set weekly goals for yourself. For example, you will do x amount of strength-training workouts, x amount of cardio workouts and food journal every day, aiming to hit your calorie and macronutrient goals for the next x amount of weeks.

To get even more specific, you will have daily goals that will help you be successful at achieving your weekly goals, which will help you be successful at achieving your 30 day, 12-week and year-long goals.

I have to laugh at myself sometimes when I have “genius but no-brainer” thoughts pop into my head. I do a lot of my best thinking when I’m walking or running outside, and the other day I was out for a run brainstorming about writing on this topic. I wear both a Polar M400 and a Fitbit Charge HR (both serve different purposes), and as I looked at both of them and saw what my goals are for each and how much I had left of what to do in order to reach my daily goals, I thought to myself “My goals every day are to reach my goals every day.” Brilliant! But also a no-brainer, LOL!

In all seriousness, that sounds obvious and a bit trivial, but that really <i> is </i>the key – for your goal every day to be to reach your goals every day.

 
BE (SOMEWHAT) FLEXIBLE

The 30 day and 12-week ‘deadlines’ are a great time to revisit and reassess your goals in order to make sure that your smaller goals are still helping you progress toward your overall goal.

For example, during the first 12 weeks you may have set a goal of three strength-training workouts and two 30-minute cardio sessions per week. After 12 weeks (or maybe after 30 days), you may discover you are no longer progressing or feeling challenged, so you need to add an extra day of strength training, a third day of cardio and increase your cardio sessions to 35 minutes.

You may also want to revisit your macros to see if anything needs to increase or decrease. It is important to be consistent and to be diligent, but it is also critical to reassess and be flexible to change and adjust when things just aren’t working anymore.

Here are some steps to take to help you achieve your goal:
#1 Set a general, overall, long-term goal
#2 Set smaller, short-term goals
#3 Revisit and reassess your goals along the way

For some useful tools to help you achieve your goals, check out the 7 Transformation Challenge Essentials list for the 30 Day Transformation Challenge.

 
 

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ABOUT NAOMI RABON
Naomi-lighterBIOOne of the trainers on Nicole’s elite NW Fitness Training Team, Naomi is a certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is a NPC Figure competitor who has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 12 years.

Go here to find out more about training with the NW Fitness Training Team!