Setting Goals Not Limitations
People say “Today I’m not going to push it too hard at the gym today, I’m just going to get it over with.” So you go to the gym or the park or run around your neighborhood. You decide you aren’t going to overdo it, you are just going to get it done. The next day you tell yourself the same thing, the next day you decide you need a day off. The next day you are “to busy”. The next day you step on the scale it tells you you’ve gained weight and you tell yourself tomorrow “it will be different” as you go sit on the couch, or do something “important”. Tomorrow comes and you tell yourself the same thing. Step on the scale again and Bad News! To bad your scale won’t tell you more than just a number higher than the last time you stepped on it. It should say “HEY, put on your running shoes and RUN NOW!” “Or go to the gym and workout right now or this number is going to be higher next time!” It should yell at you “You are doing it again!” But inside you know the truth but you aren’t willing to admit it because if you admit it then that means you have failed again. So we tell ourselves something that takes away the pain of losing another battle.
Why do we set limitations instead of goals? When we set limitations we lower our expectations and if we set them low enough then we won’t fail or it won’t hurt as much if we do.
People who come to me for personal training hardly ever say I’m here to look like a model, or I want to be chiseled like a Greek god. More likely than not they say “I would be happy if I just lost 15lbs” or “I would settle for….” Or “I don’t have to have six pack abs but, or I would be ok with…” You see?! They don’t want to fail so they set limitations on their expectations. They want to limit the amount of pain they feel if they fail. They limit their goals and they don’t know it but they are limiting their chances of success by setting their goals to low. THE PROBLEM WITH SETTING LIMITATIONS ON OUR GOALS IS THAT THEY DON’T INSPIRE US! We have to let go and dream then we can set our goals as high as we want. When we set our goals high then we feel inspired. When we are inspired we push aside obstacles that used to stand in our way and we attain our goals! No limitations just goals! Goals without limits. This is actually a step up from the next one. They may have been there before where they tried and failed but then go to a deeper level which is “It’s not important to me”. Or “I’m ok with how I look”. They are completely alleviating the potential for failure, at least on the outside. But how do they really feel on the inside? Where are you? How do you feel? What do you say to yourself?
So now it’s time to get REAL about how you feel and what you want. NOT REALISTIC!
