Latest / SOTA Personal Training Podcast / Goal Setting 101: The 10-Step System to Finally Follow Through

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Goal Setting 101: The 10-Step System to Finally Follow Through · SOTA Personal Training Podcast

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  Today is January 1st and we're going to talk about your goals.
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  And the reason I'm doing this is because every January the same
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  thing happens. We set goals with the best
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  intentions. We're fired up, we're energized,
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  we're motivated. We promised ourselves that this
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  year it's going to be different. But then real life shows up,
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  work gets crazy, schedules get messy, your kids, you, a parent
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  get sick, your energy drops, and somehow the goals fade into the
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  background once again. And here's the part that people
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  tend to miss. Goals don't fail because of
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  laziness or a lack of discipline or knowledge.
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  They fail because they aren't supported by the right systems
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  that are going to help you. Plan for the deviations.
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  Plan for the disruptions. So we're going to walk through
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  this ten step process for creating an unshakable goal.
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  Most of us around this time of year, we think about all the
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  things we want to do and then we try to do them all at once and
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  we burn out by February or March if you're lucky.
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  And so we're going to do is get clarity on what's actually
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  important, focus on those things and specifically the goal that's
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  going to make everything else easier.
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  All you need for this is a notebook and a pen or a pencil.
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  And I'm going to take you through this process step by
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  step. I encourage you to stop
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  throughout various periods of this because I'm going to jump
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  through it quickly. But the rules for this are
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  simple. Allocate 30 to 60 minutes at
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  least to do this. You are not allowed to have your
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  phone nearby you. No distractions.
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  Find a quiet place in your house or go to the library to get this
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  done and then just grab a beverage of your choice because
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  we're going to get to work. So step one is you're going to
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  reflect and ask yourself, if I wasn't held back by anything
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  whatsoever, what would I want to accomplish?
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  And then you were just going to spew out everything that comes
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  to mind. Don't worry about specifics or
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  filtering or how it's written out yet.
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  Just write down everything that you may want to accomplish.
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  Let your brain do the work and just have your hand follow.
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  After that, we're going to do a prioritization and a filtering
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  process. Eliminate any goals that truly
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  aren't priorities to you right now.
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  You're going to also eliminate and cross out any of the ones
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  that don't fit this SMART criteria.
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  So they need to be specific, measurable, attainable,
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  relevant, and time bound. For example, say you want to
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  lose some weight. So if you have lose weight
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  written down, we have to make it much more specific and
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  measurable so we can say is I want to lose 20 lbs or encourage
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  you to frame it positively and say I want to weigh this much
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  has to be attainable. So you have to understand that
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  losing 1% of your body weight each week is probably the most
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  you can do without compromising muscle mass or losing your
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  energy. You make it time bound and then
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  it needs to be relevant to you. So it really needs to be
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  important and we'll do more on that in the next step.
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  Now Step 3, you're going to evoke your why.
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  So for each of those remaining goals, you are going to write
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  down why it's important to you. You want to take it deeper, as
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  deep as you can, get into your own emotions and ask yourself
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  what is the real root of this? So again, if it's to lose
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  weight, for example, and ask yourself, well, why?
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  Is it because you want to be more confident in that that
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  business outfit? Is it you want to lose that
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  weight so that you can be more active with your kids or
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  grandkids? Is it you want to lose weight so
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  that you look better naked? Whatever it is, I want you to go
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  deeper into those goals and evoke the why.
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  A great way to do this is to imagine accomplishing these
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  goals and ask yourself how will accomplishing this change how I
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  feel day-to-day? What impact is accomplishing
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  this goal going to have on my life and how I feel over the
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  next 1510 or more years? Ask what freedoms will it
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  provide or what will it unlock for you?
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  Maybe it's going to let you take that trip to Italy and go on
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  that two day hike excursion you saw.
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  Whatever it is, write those things down.
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  Lastly, while we want this to be centered around ourselves, you
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  can also ask who else in my inner circle is going to benefit
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  from me accomplishing this goal? Will efficiency at work go up?
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  Will your spouse benefit from this?
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  Will your kids benefit from this?
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  Those important things to ask, I want you to repeat this process
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  until you've narrowed that list down to three things at most.
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  So you're going to continue filtering until you've narrowed
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  it down. Three things.
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  You have to focus on one to three and do those really well.
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  And if you can do that, I promise it's going to make
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  everything else easier, which takes us to step four.
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  Step 4 is to identify your Keystone goal.
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  What's the one goal that makes everything else easier?
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  Which of these things would be so life changing to accomplish
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  that you couldn't be permanently proud of yourself after
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  achieving it? What's going to give me the
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  highest return on the energy invested into pursuing this
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  goal? What's the one that stands out
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  the most? That is your Keystone goal, and
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  that's the thing that you're going to focus on with the next
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  3-6 or 12 months. Now, once we've established that
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  keystone goal, we're going to Step 5, which is to break that
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  keystone goal down into short, mid, and long term targets to
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  help manage expectations. Identifying if that keystone
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  goal is short, mid or long term target.
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  Short, just two to 12 weeks, midterm 3 to 12 months, long
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  term, 12 or more months. So say for example, your
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  keystone goal is to lose 50 lbs this coming year.
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  What you then want to do is turn that 12 month goal and break it
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  down into a short and midterm target as well so you have
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  something to connect the dots. So say you want to lose that 50
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  lbs in 12 months. Then maybe in the first three
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  you say I'm going to lose 20 and then by the six month mark
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  you'll have a lot of 40 so you can see how on or off target you
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  are and to adjust accordingly. Step 6.
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  And this is where most goals will fail.
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  We are going to pre identify the biggest potential obstacles that
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  are going to come up over the next year.
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  What's held you back in the past?
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  Are your circumstances the same now or are they different?
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  What's the one thing that gets in the way of your progress more
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  than anything else? If I just didn't have blank, I'd
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  be successful. So you're going to write those
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  barriers down for that short, mid and long term target.
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  Take your time in this step because this is the one thing
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  that people fail to put into their plan.
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  Goals do not fail because of willpower, discipline.
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  They fail because they don't plan for the deviations, the
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  distractions, the disruptions that are going to happen.
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  It's not a matter of if they happen in a matter of when.
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  Now, after you've written those things down, we're on the step
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  7, which is to strategize and plan.
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  So for each of those barriers, you're going to write down what
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  you need to overcome them. The skills, the knowledge, the
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  resources, the support. What has helped you stay
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  consistent and successful in the past to work around these
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  things? What do you need to confidently
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  overcome those challenges when they present themselves?
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  What are you able and willing to give up in order to be
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  successful? You can prep yourself for these
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  things in advance. You will not be shocked when
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  they arrive. You plan for them.
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  You know what to do. It's part of the process.
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  It's almost like you're eager for them to present themselves
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  so that you can implement this system and work around them to
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  stay consistent. Now, step 8, we're going to
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  rally support. So we're going to identify the
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  people who are going to provide unconditional support and
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  accountability. That's a writer downer.
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  I'll say that again. Unconditional support and
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  accountability. This might not be your spouse.
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  This might not be your BFF who has your best interests in mind
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  over their own, who can give you the tough love when you need it.
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  If you're OK telling this person no, and sometimes that is your
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  spouse, that might not be the right person to rally in a
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  support team. Who can you count on to provide
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  the unwavering support when those things get tough?
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  And here's the pro tip. You're going to call or text
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  them immediately after this exercise to tell them what
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  you're doing, to tell them why it's important to you and ask
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  for their help. Ask for their support and get a
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  commitment from them to be that person for you.
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  If you pick the right people, they'll do it without a doubt.
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  Now, step 9 is we're going to write our power statement.
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  This is a single powerful statement that defines your goal
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  and encapsulates every part of this exercise.
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  Your keystone goal, why it's important to you, how you'll
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  benefit from accomplishing it, what you're willing to do to
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  accomplish it, a realistic timeline, how you'll overcome
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  those specific challenges, and who's going to help support you
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  to keep it consistent. This is the thing you're going
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  to refer back to when you need the motivation when things get
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  tough because we can't rely on that motivation all the time.
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  It is fleeting. It is not reliable.
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  We need something better. Here is how to write your power
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  statements. All you have to do is fill in
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  the blanks from the previous exercises into the statement and
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  you've got it done. It goes like this.
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  By accomplishing this goal, I will take these actions so that
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  I can achieve these benefits. This is important to me because
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  here's your why. Biggest barriers can't stop me
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  because I'll handle it by using these strategies and I'll have
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  name of my supporters supporting me through this process.
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  That is your power statement and you are going to write it down,
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  make it real and make it as visible as possible.
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  You can make a note in your phone and create a widget on
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  your home screen. You can put it in your car, put
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  it on the mirror in the bathroom, put it at work, at
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  your desk, wherever you need to see it, to make it as visible
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  and easy to remember as possible.
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  Life is too busy to try to store this up in our head all the
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  time. We have to put it out there and
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  use it as a visual reminder of why we started doing this to
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  begin with. And step 10 is we are going to
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  review and adjust. The last thing that you and I
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  want to happen is to go through this exercise, take the time,
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  pour our motion and do it, and then have it fade into the
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  background until next January again.
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  So we're going to set a quarterly check in process where
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  you're going to have it on your Google Calendar.
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  You're going to block off 30 minutes and you're going to ask
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  yourself these things, what's working, what feels heavy, what
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  needs adjusting and what should I stop pretending we'll get to?
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  This should have some sort of metric attached, should have
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  something that you can come back to and assess.
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  Am I on or off target? And what do I need to adjust so
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  I can keep moving forward? So you've made it through Step
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  10. You have it all set up.
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  Here's some bonus tips to make it stick.
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  One set weekly reminders every Sunday, get your head back into
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  the game. Maybe set yourself a weekly
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  reminder, your phone to go off. It says hey, remember this, we
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  set this goal. Next is to pre schedule those
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  key actions. So in order to be successful,
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  you must treat your workouts, your sleep, your nutrition like
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  meetings. These are the meetings with
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  yourself for you. It's the most important meeting
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  on your calendar. So make sure you treat it just
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  like you would other important meetings in your life. 3 is to
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  rally the support people that you wrote down previously
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  because accountability will beat motivation 100% of the time.
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  Next is to use habit stacking. So anchor some of these new
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  behaviors that are necessary to something you're already doing.
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  So an example of habit stacking is getting your workout gear put
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  together as part of your bedtime routine.
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  You get your bag ready to make it that much easier to get out
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  of the front door. Next, to keep it visible, you're
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  going to put that power statement everywhere you need it
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  to so that you're constantly reminded of what we did here
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  today. Your goals, your dreams, and
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  this power statement should not live in a drawer.
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  And lastly, celebrate every win, big or small, When you hit those
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  weekly marks, those quarterly marks, celebrate those.
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  The brain loves rewards. Reward yourself with a new set
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  of workout gear, a new pair of running shoes.
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  Make sure we reward our brain for it because that's going to
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  help create those reward systems in your head.
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  They're going to make this so much easier over the next three
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  to 12 months. Now that's it team.
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  You've got everything you need. So now do it.
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  I can give you all the information in the world on how
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  to do this properly, but the thing most people lack is
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  implementation. So if you want to take this
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  seriously, mark on your calendar a time this week to go through
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  this process. Follow the rules, make sure
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  there's no distractions, there's no phones.
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  Really dive into this. Treat this as seriously as it
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  should be treated, because you were important.
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  What you want to achieve is important.
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  We're here to help you out, but you've got to advocate for
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  yourself and to the absolute best way to do it.
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  Reach out if you need help, because your coaches and I are
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  all here to help you do this and we've got your back.
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  Now the only thing left to do. Get to work.
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  Happy January and we'll see you guys on the next one.