Gotta Have a Date

Having a goal

No matter who you are in the fitness world you are going to have a goal. It may be as simple as dropping a few pounds for a wedding or a big family event, but the whole point of training or working out is to better yourself. Nobody does this to get weaker or look worse, that’s for damn sure.

But reaching that goal can often be a difficult and arduous process for many of us. Any number of things can pop up, take our attention away from what we’re after and lead us off the path we were so ready to go down just a short time ago.

The solution is simple

It happens to all of us, but my solution is simple. In fact, it’s so simple you may scoff, but time and time again it’s made a big difference in my goal-setting – and goal-reaching – process.

You ready for it? Get a calendar.

So many people have a hard time reaching their goals and I truly believe it’s because they have no date on the calendar, which means no deadline for the goal to be reached.

Open-ended goals = the path to nowhere

An open-ended goal puts no pressure on you.

On the other hand, giving yourself a hard deadline on a calendar creates a new challenge. You can almost immediately feel that surge of adrenaline the moment that deadline moves from simply being in your head to going onto paper. When that happens, it goes from a dream to something concrete, something you are truly going after. It’s the moment you find out what you’re made of and just how bad you want to reach this goal.

Coming from a training background, I had to figure out and find a lot of different ways to get my clients on track and excited to reach their goals. But after years and years of doing shows and meets, I realized having a set date on the calendar is the key. Of all the little tricks and methods I used, simply getting them to commit to a date and write it down worked the most consistently. By “agreeing” to a specific number on the calendar, you could almost see their inner thought process working and realizing they had to take their training, diet and just overall approach to another level.

It’s such a critical part of the process that I do it with every training-related goal I have, whether it’s reaching a certain bodyweight for a shoot, a strength level for a meet or just a general fitness milestone I want to hit. You always need to have something in front of you to work for if you want to reach your goals.

What lights your fire

Now, I know what you may be thinking: “Cory, I don’t want to enter a bodybuilding show or enter a powerlifting competition.” Well, I get that, but a date on the calendar is still critical no matter how small (or big) your goal may seem. If there is a goal you’re after, then it’s a big one, simply because it is important to you.

They key to all of this is “What lights your fire?”

Is a trip or a vacation you set up 3-6 months down the road? Maybe your goal is upgrading your car if you reach a certain bodyweight or body fat percentage. Only you know what drives you to kick your butt in gear. But the fun thing with this is you can be creative. Simply giving yourself a big “reward” for reaching a goal can be enough motivation, which is why putting a deadline on a calendar works so well.