Ever felt so inspired to achieve a goal that you were ready to move mountains?
Most people would say yes to this at least once in their life and it feels pretty damn good. But what about when that doesn’t go to plan.
Do you know how it feels to have that dream goal sitting in front of you and just never getting any closer?
It’s depressing, some days you just feel like you’re actually moving further away rather than closer to the goal.
After working with people and training around others for the last 10 years we’ve seen some common mistakes to why those goals don’t become any more than just dreams.
So if you want to make sure you’re not making those mistakes and holding yourself back from your goals and dreams then keep reading.
You’re Waiting On Motivation
Ever seen a friend of yours kicking their goals… Getting up first thing in the morning and going to train no matter how cold it is, or how nice of a day it is for the beach?
We see this all the time and the following line someone tells us is…
“I wish I had their motivation”
That’s where the problem lies, you’re waiting on something they don’t actually have or need.
Your friend just gets up and gets it done no matter what, because your goals don’t care how warm and comfy it is in your bed.
They only care about if you’re putting in the work. It doesn’t matter if you’re not extremely excited to get out of bed and train, it only matters that you took action.
At the end of the day, most people are less motivated to go to work than they are to achieve their fitness goals. But everyone still goes to work unmotivated for 40 hours a week and some people can’t get themselves to the gym for 3 hours.
You Need The D… Discipline
This goes hand in hand with motivation but if you have the discipline to just get to the gym no matter how you feel. Chances are you’re going to have a solid workout.
Not every session needs to be PR’s and laying on the ground afterwards intensity. Most successful people over the long haul actually have way less intense workouts than the people who don’t get results.
I remember watching Rich Froning’s training (the beast who dominated the crossfit games for many years) and he was training 6-8 times a day. Now if anyone is familiar with crossfit it’s pretty well known for crazy intense workouts and people laying on the ground or spewing afterwards.
The difference with Rich was every workout even though he pushed hard was performed quite methodically, just getting the work done at a consistent pace.
He wasn’t trying to bury himself but rather, working for a specific purpose at a specific pace as he knew he was going to have to recover in an hour to go again.
Disciplined people believe in the process and know that the sum of their actions are greater than the parts themselves.
You Plan Horribly
One of the biggest mistakes most people make while trying to achieve their goals happens in one of the earliest stages, when developing a plan.
Ever felt like you didn’t even get a chance to kick off your push to your goals?
Like it was only day 1 and you had already fallen apart?
If you did it’s probably one of two things; you either don’t really care about that goal or you came up with a terrible action plan.
Things as simple as not planning where to fit your workouts in or getting groceries before you run out and end up hungry even though sound so simple always add up.
The Navy Seals talk about people don’t rise to the occasion but rather fall to the level of their preparation.
If you’re not preparing yourself to succeed then you will find it significantly harder to reach your goals.
We talk about making it easier for yourself to succeed. Now you don’t need to go all bodybuilder and have every meal plain, boring and packed in a tupperware container, but simple things like having some healthy carbs, veggies and proteins easily available to you for your meals can make a huge difference.
You Let Yourself Off For Letting Yourself Down
You know what I’m talking about here. I bet you’ve done it a few times at least, that’s ok I’ve been there too.
I remember when I used to do this to myself all the time. I was still living with my parents at the time and I used to tell myself “It’s ok I wasn’t great with my diet this week, I just ate whatever mum and dad made for me because I didn’t want to make it harder for them.”
At no point did I acknowledge that I could have done the work to prepare my own food and still not impact on them. I just let myself off for not making the best decisions I could for the goals I set for myself.
What do you find yourself going to when you let yourself off the hook?
Is it the “I already trained today so I deserve my (insert favourite high calorie food of choice)”
Or the “I trained yesterday so it’s ok if I miss today”?
The unfortunate part of this all comes down to at the end of the day here you have intentionally set yourself up to not reach your goals by letting yourself off for all your bad choices.
But when you realise you didn’t reach your goals you don’t let yourself off at that point and you guilt yourself over it.
What it really comes down to is holding yourself to a higher standard. When you hold that standard of yourself, you don’t let yourself off so easy.
The less you let yourself off easy the more you take action, the more action the more results!
Stop Making These Mistakes
So when it comes down to taking action and making change one of the easiest ways to do this is by publically calling yourself out on it and holding a higher standard for everyone else to see.
If you found something here that resonated with why you’re not making the progress you wish you were…
I challenge you to share this post and tell your friends which of these mistakes you make and how you’re going to stop making it.