Mistake of the Day - Making Goals and Sticking to Them

As I talked about in my first post,  there are several different mistakes that I made when I first began working out.  Over the next few posts I would like to share with you, in detail, these mistakes, how they affected me and how I have corrected these mistakes in my quest to become a "Super Saiyan." I want to ensure that you avoid making the same mistakes and falling into the same pitfalls that I did. However, before we dig into the "Mistake of the Day," here is a quick recap of the mistakes that I have made:

• Not Having a Goal;
• Not Tracking Exercises;
• No Diet Plan/Tracking Food Intake;
• Not Pushing Yourself;
• Not Doing Research Regarding Supplements;
• Not Doing Research Regarding Exercises; 
• Underestimating Yourself;
• Pride; and 
• Etc.

I may not follow this exactly and may add additional mistakes that I have made as I progress in my training, but for today let's start with setting goals and following through with them. 

Mistake of the Day - Without Goals, You Fail

A sports team has the goal of becoming the best team every year and winning the championship. Each athlete trains to become the best that they can be. Every company wants to make a huge profit. In Dragonball Z, one of the main plots of the story is Vegeta always trying to be better and stronger than Goku. His drive to become the best fighter in the universe is the catalyst for his entire being and drives him to train harder and more intensely than any other person. Why? Because his goal was to become the best fighter in the universe.

As you will notice, with each of these examples there was a goal. So what makes anyone think they  can accomplish anything without a goal? Well, the answer is they are stupid and you can't accomplish anything without a goal.  You will flop around like a fish out of water and eventually "die." So what's the answer? Set a goal. Set small, short-term goals as well as big, long term goals. 

I had what I thought was a good enough goal when I first began working out: stop my body from jiggling. But this goal sucked and wasn't enough motivation to push myself and actually make a change. So when setting a goal, pick one that doesn't suck. My goal now...well, it's pretty obvious...becoming a Super Saiyan. That's my long-term goal. I make my short-term goals in such a way as to help me reach me my long-term goal. In the case of working out, I attempt to either increase my lifting weight by five to ten pounds per week or to increase the amount of reps I can accomplish.

Long-term goals are to ensure that our energy stays focused on a prize that takes some time to achieve. When we complete a short-term goal, we gain a sense of accomplishment and a dopamine rush which encourages us to keep pushing towards the long-term goal. For all of you nerds, it's the same thing as getting to a checkpoint in an old school racing game, each checkpoint gives you more time to accomplish the long-term goal: reaching the finish line. That is why you workout. That is why you do what you do: to accomplish your goals.  

So let's talk about how to make both long-term and short-term goals starting with short-term goals. Like I said above, a short-term goal should be like a checkpoint on the way to your long-term goal, something that gives you encouragement and keeps you going when otherwise you might be getting discouraged. A short-term goal should be something trackable (which we will get to) and should be kept to something that can be achieved in a month or less. The time period for your short-term goal(s) will vary though as it depends mostly on a person's motivational level or need for sense of achievement. As I mentioned, my short-term goal is to increase my max lifting weight on every exercise by five to ten pounds weekly. Not a huge goal but relatively easy to accomplish and it delivers that necessary motivation to keep moving forward. And while this doesn't seem like much progress, imagine starting dumbbell curls at 20 lbs and four weeks later you are curling 40 lbs. That's double the weight! Now, this would be amazing growth, and usually doesn't happen, so this is where I sub-divide my short-term goals. Once again, tracking your workout is a huge must and this one of the reasons why. If I can't make the set amount of reps for an exercise at a certain weight, I try to do one or two more reps than the next week. So even if I can't increase the weight I use, I at least accomplish something for that encouragement. That's the point of short-term goals...hit a "checkpoint," get more "time" and reach the finish line. [As a side-note about short-term goals, multiple short-terms goals can be good or even necessary.]  Finally, some examples of other short term goals: weight loss/weight gain, beating a set time for a distance run, or any other number of things. Whatever it is you want to accomplish,  set a short-term goal(s) and go with it until you reach that long-term goal.

But I guess you need a long-term goal first, eh? This is the easy part of your goal setting task. Set the goal you want to accomplish and find the method to reach that goal (your short term goals) and don't stop until you've reached that goal or surpassed it. Mine? Becoming a Super Saiyan. But maybe yours is to lose 15 lbs or to be able to run a 10k, the list could be endless. Now choose a long-term goal. Got it? That's great! Now work on it.

One more thing before I close, pick one long term goal at a time and set a time frame to accomplish it. Don't try to do too much because if you do, you are setting yourself up for stress and failure. Okay, I lied, one more thing. When you set your long-term goal ,share it with someone that is going to keep you accountable. It can be someone who has the same goal as you or someone that you respect or will give you crap for not doing what you're supposed to. This will help to ensure that you you stay on track and get through those checkpoints and reach that finish line.

Now, what are you waiting for? (Okay, watch this video first then get out of here.)