Make Mini Goals for Long Term Results

Having things to get excited about on the way to your big goal is important. In fact, it's probably more important than the big goal.

Some people do well with focusing on the primary goal to keep them going to the gym while others need something more.

In the past 3 months, I've changed the way I train people simply for the fact that people were becoming unmotivated by the amount of time it would take to hit their long term goals. So my clients and I decided to change our focus to something more short term while keeping the long term goals in mind.

Some people can't stay committed to a long term (6 months or more) goal, so setting mini goals is an excellent way to keep them driven and showing up.

The only thing that going to get someone to their long term goals is consistency, so why not focus on enjoying the workouts so consistency improves?

As an example, I recently started training a woman in her 40's who wants to lose weight while improving her cardio. Immediately she informed me that was weak and shouldn't be pushed hard.

She just told me two things:

1) She's already undercutting herself by telling me that she doesn't think she can be worked at a decent intensity

2) Her goal is long term and will take a lot of focus and effort

By telling me she is weak and can't be pushed, she is saying, "don't challenge me, don't make me work, and don't progress me". She's setting herself up for failure.

So here's what I did:

I asked her about things she's always wanted to do, but never thought she could. Once we determined what they were, we started working on those and focusing on them instead of the weight loss. Now, we're working towards being able to do a pullup and being able to have enough muscular endurance to finish a game of ball hockey without feeling like Death was creeping up on her after every game.

You know what they side effect was?

She's getting stronger, eating better, improving her cardio, and feels driven to hit these goals more than her original goal of just losing weight. The weight loss will come as a side effect of her activity and eating habits, so we're killing two birds with one stone.

Mini goals are not a distraction form the original goal, but they act as a supplement to the goal. They take the focus from a negative goal (losing weight) and put the focus on something positive (achieving a goal like pull-ups or completing a spartan race).

Examples of Mini Goals

• Back squat your bodyweight three times

• Do a pull-up

• Be able to run up a flight of stairs without feeling like you're dying

• Eat a consistent amount of meals per day, eat consistently , smaller portions, etc

• Doing cardio for 10 minutes before each workout

• Eating protein with every meal

The Take Away

Understand that long terms goals take a long time and can become discouraging when focusing only on the primary goal. Setting small, somewhat easily attainable goals continuously can help you reach that goal while still feeling positive towards those goals.

What mini goal can you set today that would help you get closer to the bigger picture?

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