Goal setting allows you to bring out the best that you can be. When these goals are achieved, the confidence in your ability increases allowing you to surpass these goals and get what you want out of life. The more often you think about the goals, the more you will think about ways to achieve it. Most people have a problem setting their own goals. When this happens, their goals are determined by other people. And a lot of times these goals are unattainable.
Goals have to be:
- realistic - if you have a 300 lb deadlift and you want to get to 310 in a month = possible
- specific - you want to get 5 consecutive unassisted pull-ups by the end of the month
If the goal is too hard to achieve, failure will ensue. With failure comes lack of confidence. With lack of confidence comes lack of motivation. To combat this, set several smaller goals and work step by step in order to achieve the big goal.
It is important to stay positive. Staying positive will dispel any negative emotions or thoughts. If you get stuck on your path to your goal, don't give up. Don't focus on the block. Think of ways to get around this. And when you do, you will be able to adapt to more situations in everyday life.
Is there anything you would like to see yourself doing by the end of January? End of March? End of June? End of December? Have your goals written down and placed somewhere that you can view them every day. This way both your conscious and subconscious mind, as mentioned earlier, will think of ways to achieving them.
If you would like a place to keep track on what you would like to achieve, post them in the comments section. At the end of the month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, check back to see if the goal(s) has/have been met.
Tuesday April 9/13
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Lift 1 - work up to max double
Power clean and Jerk
Lift 2/conditioning
Work up to heavy X 2
Power clean + Clean X 2 + Front Squat X 2
*If you have ex...
11 years ago
3 comments:
I agree with you Dawson when you say lack of confidence = lack of motivation/neg thoughts. Question: when setting a goal and putting into place smaller (stepping stone) goals at what point should you re-evaluate your goal if you lose confidence. Is it wise to step back or take a break from the challenge you have set for yourself and tackle it another time? or should you re set the smaller goals, until you are successful?
There are pros and cons to to taking a step back when the confidence fizzles.
PRO - allows you time to think of different ways to go about attaining that goal rather than the direct way.
CON - if you take a break there is a good chance that you will not get back to what you were trying to accomplish.
Most, not all, humans are creatures of habit. When something starts getting tough and we don't want to deal with it, we try to run away or put it on the back burner for another day. You may think to yourself, "I think I will do it tomorrow." Then tomorrow comes and you say, "Well maybe not today. I give it one more day." This is a vicious cycle and, eventually, nothing is accomplished.
It will depend on how disciplined you are. If you can take a break and then get back into it then by all means, take the break. But if you are like most people, myself included, by putting things off longer and longer, then taking a break is not the way to go. Seek advice from others around the gym. Andrew is a wealth of knowledge and I am more than willing to help to the best of my ability. I'm sure I would have to turn to Andrew at some point for advice if things don't appear to be progressing.
I decided to split this up into 2 posts. Cuts down on the consistent reading. Plus allows you to have a pee break, a nap (cuz I know this could be boring), food, a few drinks (to make this go by faster), etc.
Setting smaller goals is ideal. This allows you to continue building the necessary confidence required to get that big goal. For example...
You want to get your first muscle-up. The muscle-up, as we know, is a complex movement that requires a lot of upper body strength and stability. If you are not efficient in pull-ups and ring dips, chances are you will not be successful in getting that elusive muscle-up. So we break this complex movement up into it's basic parts.
First the pull-up. As we have all done it, we start off with something to assist us getting our chin over the bar (i.e. a band). As time goes on the bands get smaller and smaller to the point where we can do a strict pull-up without a band. Once you can do, let's say, 3 - 5 consecutive strict pull-ups, then you know you have enough upper body strength to do the pulling motion of the muscle-up.
Secondly, the ring dip. This requires quite a bit of strength in the shoulders and triceps and a lot of stability so your elbows don't go flying all over the place. Just as the pull-ups, we all start with a band and progress from there.
Thirdly, the muscle-up progression. This allows us to get the feeling of holding onto the rings with a false grip. It also give us the feeling of shooting our heads through at the top of the pull-up so we can get into position for the press from the dip.
So, as you can see, we need to take 'baby steps' in order to attain the ultimate goal. This is what I would like to see people do rather than take a break from trying to get his/her goal. However, if you notice that you are getting stuck on even the smaller steps, then maybe it is time to take a break, step back, re-evaluate, then go from there.
I hope this did not sound confusing. I am by no means an expert at goal setting. It is just my 2 cents. I've done some reading on the internet with regards to this topic (and any other topic I discuss). If there is anyone out there that can shed more light or knowledge feel free.
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