Why NOT Hitting Your Targets Isn’t Necessarily a Failure
When is a failure a success ?
Does that even make sense ?
Well it can and I’m going to tell you why
I’ll start with my example which I’ve just finished today (Hogmanay)
I set out to do 60 training sessions before the end of the year, over the last 90 days to be exact, I completed number 58 today, the last day – 2 short.
Did I hit my target – NO
So, that must be a failure then ?
Well not as far as I’m concerned, I could’ve done 2 sessions yesterday and 2 today (I did contemplate this) but the only purpose they would have served is hitting the 60 sessions.
60 isn’t a magical number that means I would’ve hit some amazing fitness level, it was just a target, to make me train more consistently over the 90 days.
Could I have hit the 60 – absolutely.
But I didn’t, so it’s a fail ? NO
The actual purpose of the goal, was to train more consistently, which I did, so the purpose/real reason was achieved.
I know myself if I hadn’t set the goal, an achievable (with effort) goal and made myself accountable by posting every session online. I would maybe have hit 30 or so sessions (maybe).
I set a target – 60 sessions in 90 days – too big so
I knew my weekly targets – 5 sessions a week – still too vague
I broke it down to exact days i would do a session – Exact
If I had stuck to this the result is undeniable, it’s impossible not to hit your goal.
A couple of sessions I missed for ‘things’ that’s ok, ‘things’ happen
If I wanted to I could say I cycled most days and count that as sessions, so I did more than 90.
So hopefully you see the target, isn’t necessarily the actual goal.
Lets look at another example
Say, you want to lose some body fat – 3 stone as an example in xxxx time
That time elapses and you’ve lost 2 ½ stone eating well, enjoying it, nothing stupid, sustainable.
You know that the other ½ stone will probably come off, or maybe you’re actually happy where you are.
You can’t beat yourself up about the ½ stone, which a lot of us do.
You should be focussing on the 2 ½ stone result.
It’s all very easy and natural to look at the negative side of what we do.
The things we don’t have, the stuff we can’t do.
Why not start changing that outlook.
Instead of looking at where you want to go and see it as a far off, maybe too far off goal.
Measure how far you have come, remember where you started and keep going.
There will be times when ‘things’ happen, obstacles, set backs but stick with the program, the structures, the daily, weekly and monthly goals.
Breaking it down and doing the action required only leads to one outcome – SUCCESS
Whatever you’re New Year Resolutions are, no matter how big or small, remember where you’re starting and any progress from there is still progress.
Lastly
Happy New Year to you all