Specific and Measurable

When I ask people what they want to achieve from their transformation, I usually get vague answers like, “I want to get leaner”, “I want to lose weight,” or “I want to build muscle.” That’s a good start, but it’s not enough – it’s too general. Specific goals have a more powerful impact on your subconscious than general goals.

Narrow it down. Be specific – right down to the digit. What do you want to achieve? Your unconscious autopilot needs a specific target to aim for. If you give your autopilot a vague command such as “fly west” or “lose weight”, it isn’t enough information. Fly west for a mile or sweat off some water weight and your mind could think you’ve already completed your goal. Give clarity to your mind using specific targets and as much detail as possible.

Also you need to have a way to objectively measure your progress; otherwise you’ll never know whether you’ve actually reached your goals or not. The mirror is definitely a useful tool, because ultimately the only thing that really matters is that you’re happy with the way you look. But, because you perceive changes in your body so subjectively, (and it’s sort of like watching the grass grow haha), it’s helpful to have other ways to measure your results.

• What do you want your target weight to be?
• Do you want to get a specific body fat percentage or waist measurement?
• What size clothes do you want to be wearing?
• Any specific clothes that you want to be able to fit?

When you set very specific goals, you’ll surprise yourself how often you achieve them right on your deadline day. But why stop there? Set yourself a no limit goal that includes words like “at least,” “or more,” “or better” or “less than”. This way, you’ve set a specific goal that doesn’t limit the potential of your success.

Believable and Achievable

Make your goals bigger than yourself! Don’t sell yourself short or accept anything less than what you really want, because you are way more capable then you or anyone else can realise. If your goal gets you feeling excited and scary at the same time, then it’s perfect!

Your goals must be big enough that they get you outside your comfort zone and into a transformed state of being. Thinking about a big goal you’ve never achieved before is always going to make you feel a little uncomfortable and afraid. This discomfort makes most people pull back into their comfort zones. Don’t let the fear of failure or the feeling of discomfort prevent you from going after what you really want. Always step forward into growth; never pull back into safety. Refuse to sell yourself short. Raise your standards.

“Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir your blood to action. Make big plans, aim high in work and hope.” – Famous architect Daniel Burnham. 

What Can I Achieve in the Time I Have?

Realistic and Challenging Deadline

Remember when you had an assignment to do and you had a whole month to complete it, but you waited until the last minute to get it done right at the end? Why does this happen to everyone? Because the closer the deadline feels, the more urgent you feel to get it done. The busiest people in the world get the most accomplished because they are always under the pressure of a challenging deadline. If you have a time limit to get it completed, your brain gives the task a high priority.

Deadlines are motivating. Without time pressure, you’ll rationalise missing workouts or cheating on your diet: Your brain will keep saying, “You have plenty of time, so missing this one workout won’t matter.” With a deadline right in front of you, you’ll know that every workout and every meal counts.

Better than a self imposed deadline, is an external deadline. This could be a coach, a major event coming up like a sports event, wedding, holiday or birthday. Give yourself some accountability and some negative consequences if you miss your deadline. Someone who doesn’t complete their assignment on time could fail the paper. A doctor may give their patient a deadline to change their lifestyle habits before it’s too late to recover. Rewards and consequences increate your motivation by lighting a fire under your butt.

Your deadlines can be broken up into five categories:

Ultimate Vision! – Imagine your ideal physique. Any body you wanted at all, what would it look like? To help you get an idea, think of an actor, athlete, bodybuilder or fitness model that you aspire to emulate. The timeframe for this could be over 2 – 5 years. I’ve seen clients of mine go from obese to fitness model in less than 18 months so never sell yourself short! What about beyond that? Goals that are ten, twenty or fifty years down the line. Make goals for the type of lifestyle you want to be capable of after you retire.

6 – 12 Month Goal –  Think about what you want your physique and your lifestyle to be like next summer. You’re standing on the beach with your transformed physique and you have done it! Use major annual events like Christmas or New Years as a deadline for your transformation.

90 Day Goal – This goal timeframe is the one I give most my attention to. Most people can completely transform their bodies in 90 days. A sensible and realistic 90-day goal would be to lose up to 6% body fat and 5 to 10 kg (12 to 24 lbs). This is also my favourite goal timeframe. Why? Because the 12 month and 5 year goals seem very far away. A 90 day goal gives me a real sense of urgency to get off my ass and get moving. With 90 days to go, I know that every workout, every meal, every single day counts.

Weekly Progress Check – That 90 day goal can be broken down into manageable weekly targets (weight, measurements). If I give myself 90 days to shed 10kg of body fat, that means I must drop 780g of fat per week on average. If I were to have a weekend of buffet binge eating, that would put me a week behind schedule and I so I would have to work extra hard to make up time. Knowing that gives me huge motivation to stay consistent and stay the course towards my goal. Weekly goals are also a progress checks to determine if you’re ahead or behind schedule and if you need to make any corrections. If you’re getting the results you want, you simply continue doing what you’ve been doing. If you’re not seeing the results you want, you immediately adjust your training or nutrition to get yourself back on course.

Daily action steps – You develop good habits by setting daily action steps and working on them repeatedly until they become as routine as brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Ninety-nine percent of the actions you take every day are habits. Write out a list of daily targets, to-do’s and habits you want to develop. Long-term goals are important, but they can be intimidating and discouraging if you don’t have small daily goals, too. If you only look at the “big picture,” it can sometimes be unsettling to realize how much farther you have to go. So when it comes to daily goals, think about daily calorie targets, sticking to macros, preparing meals, planning ahead, completing workouts, beating personal bests and burning calories.

Emotional Reasons

This is a big one so pay attention. When you set a goal for yourself, your brain is given a target to aim for. The real powerful motivation and mental drive to achieve your goals comes from having a really strong emotional reason for achieving it. Think of your goals as the instructions for the aircraft autopilot, and the emotional reasons as the powerful jet engines that propel you along. If you don’t have good reasons for achieving your goal, you’ll fall out the sky.

When you decide on what you want, think about why you want it. What’s important about reaching my goal? What will it do for me and my life? What will be different in my life? If all you can think of is looking better, then you are only scratching the surface. Yes we love to improve the way our body looks, and get compliments, but those are external motivators. Think about the inner motivators that attach to your deepest beliefs about your self identity, your values, your family and your life. Having a low body fat percentage is great, but it’s actually the experience and the feeling of being a leaner, healthier, more active and vibrant person that really motivates you.

A lot of people mark “being healthier” as a priority to lose weight. But that priority may sit below the need to “have plenty of alcohol on the weekends”. I strongly recommend you put health near the very top of your priority list, before it gets forced there from a major health threat. Family and friends should also sit right up there on your priorities next to your health. That family life can only be optimal if you have your quality of health and the health of your family as your priority.

Set a goal and interweave it with powerful emotional reasons to it. If you link your health and fitness goals to your core values and purpose in life, you will never have trouble getting motivated ever again. The more and more reasons you have and the stronger those reasons are, the more powerful your motivational engines become and the faster you are being propelled to your goals.

Structured as Affirmations

Your goal will only exist as an idea or fantasy until you put it down in writing, either on paper or electronically. By physically writing out your goals on paper or on the computer, you help imprint that goal into your brains “important list” much faster. This also allows you to use the power of repetition that we previously discussed because you can write, read and reread your goals every single day to keep it front and centre in your mind.

The best format for your goals to be written, comes in the form of an affirmation. Studies have shown that affirmations are accepted most easily by your subconscious mind. It needs to be present, positive and personal.

Present – Write your goal in the present tense, as if it’s the day of your deadline and you have already achieved that goal. Say it like it’s already completed. To your subconscious mind, there is no future. Your subconscious mind only responds to commands given to it in a present tense. It may feel strange to write a goal in the present tense, but if you write it in the future tense (for example, “Next year I will” or “I’m going to”), your subconscious mind will make sure it always stays in the future. Always write, think and visualize your goal as if you have already achieved it.

Personal – Make your goal unique and special to you, as specific to your situation as you can. Use words like “I am,” “I wear,” “I weigh,” “I eat,” “I exercise” and “I can,”  as it gives your goal a personal attachment to you which can be very powerful. One of the best affirmations I have ever heard was from Bob Proctor, and it goes like this: “I am so happy and thankful now that I am________________” (your goal).

Positive – Refer to what you want to get from your goal, not what you want to avoid or lose. Remember the brain focuses on what you focus on. If you say to yourself, “don’t think about eating chocolate cake,” your brain will spend all its time focusing on chocolate cake. Make sense? I bet you’re even thinking about chocolate cake right now haha. A bad golfer thinks, “Don’t hit right, you always hit right,” where a good golfer thinks, “Hit it right down the middle, all the way to that hole on the green.”