Do you ever find it hard to come up with fitness and movement goals? Do you find yourself often giving up on the goals you do set for yourself?
I’m here to tell you that this is extremely common and not your fault.
It’s my fault, the fitness industry’s fault, for not inspiring you to make goals that truly resonate with you. When it’s time to set goals we often think about the things we dislike about ourselves and come up with goals to change that. The problem with this is we then spend the next period of time thinking about the thing we most dislike about ourselves, and that’s no fun. Nor is it empowering.
Or we fall back on goals given to us by the industry created by the leaders of the industry. But, what the top fitness leaders want may not be what you want. The fitness industry promotes thinness, muscle mass, brute strength, and extreme athletic feats because those are the goals of the people who lead the industry. These may not be mine or your goals!
So how do we set goals that feel true to ourselves? Goals that we actually want to accomplish – that bring us joy and empowerment!
- You need to be inspired. To find inspiration look to the communities whose values line up with yours. Recently on one of my favorite adventure storytelling podcasts, @dirtbagdiaries, they said: humans feed off of collective ambition. We depend on each other for inspiration, knowledge, and motivation. And this is so true! One person can not dream up all the possibilities in the world – we need each other to expand ourselves.
- You need to be motivated. Is this goal something you truly want to do or accomplish? Is it something you will enjoy working towards? Is it something that will make you happier, safer or more empowered?
- It needs to be attainable. Do you have the skills, resources, knowledge to work toward that goal? Sure, all goals are achievable with enough time and effort. But is what it takes to make the goal attainable worth the sacrifices?
I believe the beauty of goals that come from a place of personal motivation are much larger than the finish line. If you set goals that resonate with you then you will learn things you care about, you will expand your capabilities, and hopefully enjoy the process.
Check out my fun flow chart as an easy way to see if your sources of inspiration make good goals for you.
Finally, please share your goals and inspiration! The person who dreamed up landing on the moon is not the person who landed on the moon. As a community we depend on each other for collective growth!
