I always get fired up this time of the year, knowing that in just a couple of short weeks, we get a clean slate! The thought of a new year and a new beginning is a beautiful thing to a trainer, and to the entire fitness industry. Why wouldn’t it be? We can get a fresh start, set new goals and renew our own personal visions of excellence for the coming year.
Unfortunately, after nearly a decade of watching this cycle occur, I KNOW that this time of year is followed up, too shortly thereafter, by a disheartening decline in most people’s motivation. It PAINS me to have seen this pattern too many times! We draw up these awesome goals for the New Year, we set out to crush them and then we spend the next 4-6 weeks going after them. By February they become a little less important, and by mid-Spring, they’re nothing more than an afterthought. Sound familiar to you? I’m not on a pedestal here by any means, because I’ve certainly been there.
Nope, I’m not about to give you a crash course on how to set your goals. They need to be measurable, achievable… blah blah blah. You guys know the drill by now or have taken some kind of course in goal setting, so I won’t try to sit here and Tony Robbins ya all over again!
What I WILL urge you to think about before you set your goals for 2013 is WHY the hell you want to accomplish them anyway. Anyone who has ever failed to reach a goal didn’t fail because they weren’t motivated, they fail because they DON’T have a clear vision of what they REALLY want. When I ask the athletes I train what they want to accomplish in the next year, the answer I DESPISE hearing, in the deepest part of my soul is, “I just want to get fit.” You know how much weight that holds when things get a little difficult along the way? ZERO!! Goals without emotion are meaningless.
It doesn’t matter what your fitness targets are, I’m definitely not here to tell you what should be important to you. But whatever they are, ask yourself WHY they’re important. Why is that Fran time important to you? Why is having a 500 lb. deadlift meaningful in your life? Why will running a sub six-minute mile make you a better person? If you don’t have the answers to these questions before you embark on 2013’s journey, then don’t bother taking the first step, because as soon as it gets tough for you, it will be WAY too easy to quit if you don’t understand your personal journey.
As a wise man once said (pretty sure this is a Zach Even-esh original), you gotta find your 5,6,7! When you’re looking into the depths of your soul searching for what’s important to you and your life, don’t stop at the first question you ask yourself. Dig deeper and deeper and deeper until you can FEEL the passion building up inside of you.
Attach EMOTION to your goals, and you WILL blow them out of the water!!
When the calendar changes, something inside of you MUST change if you’re going to achieve what you deserve in 2013! Otherwise, it’s just another date that carries no meaning. Whether your goal is fitness-related or if it’s just to find a way to sink that damn Cheerio (I still haven’t figured that one out), attack it with a sense of passion and deeper meaning.
If you can look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and honestly say that you pursued your passion with every ounce of your heart, whether you have achieved your goal or not, you will never have failed. Regardless of the outcome, you will have become a better athlete, a better mother, a better father, a better wife, a better husband, a better friend, a better professional, and most importantly, a better human being because of your journey.
Now Come On Trident….let’s kick the SH#T OUT Of 2013!!
Much love from Coach Chad
