You’re often told to set big goals so that you can achieve great things. It turns out though there are a lot of smarty pants people that would tell you to focus on the smaller goals you can do consistently to achieve a larger success.
Those really big goals can effectively stop you from ever getting started because they seem like an impossible task. This happens to millions of people when they think about the big changes they’d like to see in their health fitness.
Doing 50 push ups seems impossible when you’re still learning how to do a push up. It’s easy to procrastinate about that bucket list backpacking trip you’ve dreamed about when you’re struggling to walk consistently. The key to accomplishing great fitness goals is to break them down into more manageable parts.
Read on for some smart quotes to help you focus on your smaller goals in your fitness journey.
“Great acts are made up of small deeds.” - Lao Tzu
It’s great to have big goals for the future, but think about all of the smaller milestones on the path to your grand goals. Then consider the small stepping stones between those milestones? It’s much easier to get started and continue improving when you break your fitness goals into smaller actions you can do daily and weekly.
This is often referred to as having process goals. They’re the actions you have more direct control over doing regularly that will ultimately move you toward success in your fitness journey. Losing deadlifting your bodyweight is a result, but showing up and lifting 3 days per week is the process goal. The small deed of showing up is what moves you forward in your fitness journey.
“Little by little, a little becomes a lot” - Tanzanian proverb
There is a lot of power in small actions and process goals. If you walk an extra 5 minutes a day you could walk an extra 100 miles in a year. Doing 10 push ups each day is an extra 3,650 push ups in a year.
While these seem small daily tasks, they obviously add up in a big way over time. When you practice something regularly, even small amounts, that practice starts to result in improvements. With those improvements you start to do a little more and more each day without much extra effort. Eventually 10 push ups turns into 12 and then 14 and so on. Walking 5 minutes turns into 10 minutes and faster.
More importantly, as you practice small things daily, you start to become one of those people that does a little extra each day to be more fit. A change in mindset and self perception might be the biggest step to your long term success.
“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” - Peter Marshall
Sooner or later life will throw you an unexpected curveball and you’ll find that you won’t be able to exercise for the reasonable amount of time you had planned. It happens. We all know it does and it will. It’s especially important in these moments to avoid the dreaded all or none mind set.
Missing a planned workout stinks, but having a plan B workout that consists of bodyweight exercises or jumping rope for 15 minutes goes a long way.
If you end up eating at a restaurant unexpectedly you can still make a conscious attempt to choose menu items that have more protein and align better with your nutrition goals. You can adjust your portion size and plan to take some home.
Making the best of an imperfect situation helps to maintain progress and sustain your momentum. When your great plan gets thrown off, look for the small wins wherever you can.
"If you can't lift a mountain, then lift a bucket of earth with discipline and intensity." - Dave Draper
Do not think about what you can’t do yet or you don’t have. Put your best effort into what you’re currently able to do and do it consistently.
If you’re squatting your dumbbells at home, but you ultimately want to squat your bodyweight on a barbell, focus on creating as much tension and force as you can with each repetition.
Making the most of what you have available and what your current abilities are will drive progress and those efforts and intensity will add up to larger goals.
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” - Confucius
Progress toward fitness or weight loss goals is rarely linear. There are periods where we get stronger and improve easily and other times where it’s more challenging.
Increasing responsibilities, stress, and other priorities will sometimes reduce your ability to challenge yourself to achieve new personal records or milestones. The best strategy during these periods is to adjust your expectations so that you can continue to make slower improvements or maintain your progress.
Maintaining your results is a type of progress too. The longer you are able to maintain results the easier it becomes to stay that fit or stay at that weight.
Once you stop making an effort to move forward or maintain your progress, you’ll start to lose the momentum of consistency. When that happens it’s always much harder to get started again and regain the momentum than it would have been to have maintained it.
“It's difficult to change overnight but if you are persistent and take one step at a time you will see results!” - Jack LaLanne
No health and fitness goals happen instantly. No matter how you “hack” it, goals take time, effort, and consistency.
Smaller daily actions and process goals set you up for more quick wins to generate momentum and break the fitness journey down to something you can accomplish each day.
Take the advice of all these sage old quotes and start thinking about the smaller deeds and actions that will help you to get a little closer to your goals each day.
If you’re not sure what small steps you should start with or need accountability to help you achieve your own progress and momentum you can learn more about online coaching options from Strong Made Simple. Click the link below to set up a free consultation to discuss your goals and options today.
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