Achieving Goals through a Routine
I’ve written before about the way routines make it easier to stick to your budget because you do the math beforehand and then lay out your week in terms of expenses (mostly the post was about food and groceries). Then you just follow the map you set for yourself. Yes, it can be boring, but it’s certainly effective.
Well, now that the new year is here and people are going to be making their resolutions, I’ve been thinking of ways people can avoid setting themselves up for failure when thinking of what they want to do differently in 2008. There are a bunch of tips out there on the specifics of not overreaching when it comes to these things, but I’m more interested in the “do the work now and just follow the strategy later” idea that I discussed in the routines post.
I think the first time I really figured out how effective this is was playing baseball. I was awful at it when I was young and for the first year I was the worst player on my team (I was only 7, in my defense). But I loved the sport and so I practiced every day. No matter how I felt or what was going on, I went to practice. I didn’t think that I would be any better the next week or two weeks later, my goal was simply to keep showing up and practicing. I wasn’t looking too far ahead and so it didn’t disappoint me when I didn’t noticeably improve week to week. Eventually, of course, I got better and turned into a pretty good player.
A lot of people set vague/lofty when they decide that working out is going to be their resolution. I have gone through it too. Since going to practice and being told what to do by a coach is a little different, you have to lay out all the groundwork yourself. But instead of saying, “I will lost weight/I will gain muscle,” you need to set the road map in a different way: “I will go to the gym three times a week for at least an hour.”
You can go even more specific: “I will do cardio three times a week for 30 minutes and then do 30 minutes of weight training.”
But what I’m trying to say is to get even more specific. Do the research. Make sure you are creating a worthy program so that when you start to doubt it (you will), you can find some solace in that you researched hard and you know it’s a good plan.
In essence, what you want to do is trust your routine.
In the spirit of setting up realistic resolutions, here is my workout goal for the new year:“I will work out twice a week for one hour a day before going to work. I will do cardio for 25 minutes and then I will do weight training. I will split up the different muscle groups into three days and alternate them accordingly. I will try to squeeze in a third day on the weekends if I have time and don’t have any other plans.”
Sounds pretty lame/easy? It is. But that’s the idea. I want to make sure I succeed, especially at the beginning, otherwise I’ll quit. I can follow this map pretty easily and if I want to further challenge myself I have built in some variability to it that allows me to push myself further. But if I stick to it, I know I will be happy with the results (I’ve done it before).
One more thing: One of the most important things I’ve found when it comes to these kinds of goals (especially working out) is that there will be days you will absolutely NOT WANT to stick to the routine. You are sick, it is cold out, you are busy, you are sad, you are hungry—there are millions of excuses.
Those are the most important days.
Why? Because those are the real challenging days. The rest of the time it’s pretty easy, but on those days it is so easy to just back out that it puts the whole enterprise into jeopard. My tip to you? Identify these days as early as possible, “Oh no, I really don’t feel like it today. Just one day off, I need it.”
Once you’ve identified it, man up and get over it. Tell yourself that it’s the most important day of the year and that without overcoming these days it’s an otherwise easy task.
MAKE SURE YOU GET IT DONE ON THOSE DAYS.
Not only will you progress further along on your goal(s), but the satisfaction you will feel afterwards will be worth it, trust me.
