Goal Achievement, Going Against the Grain, and & Getting Whatever You Want
“Oh my God!”
I could hardly believe it as I leaped out the water, dove forward feeling nothing but air from my waste up, and smoothly entered back in with a perfect streamline. For once, my body felt like a pro athlete’s.
About 5-7 strokes per lap, and I completed my 100 yard breaststroke race. I had never felt so powerful in the water before, and I managed to shave 6 seconds off my best time ever. In swimming terms, 6 seconds off of a 100 yard breaststroke race is about the same as accelerating in a car from 50 to 100mph.
Everyone told me to focus on ‘pulling’ with the breaststroke, but today I figured out how to explosively donkey kick and propel myself out of the water.
I found another way.
Dare we discuss the Joneses?
I love ‘competition,’ because it’s the smallest threat. The pure nature of competition suggests that many people are taking the same method towards a common goal, and they are racing. I’d rather look the other way…
In my life, I’ve realized that ‘going against the grain,’ or choosing alternate paths for goal achievement, as compared to everyone around me, consistently produces faster and more desirable results. By choosing ‘Path B’ when everyone is looking at ‘Path A,’ you are competing against less people.
More people would do this, but they just don’t take the time to think about it… now you know.
This same skill has been applicable for me in life, on a repeated basis:
- Swimming
- Water Polo
- Teaching fitness as a Doctor of Physical Therapy (unique perspective)
- Teaching physical therapy as a Fitness Pro (unique perspective)
- Starting a private Physical Therapy & Personal Training facility when everyone else goes for # of patients per hour
- Learning Spanish by living in Spain, instead of hoping to through courses
- Learning business through the world’s best coaches, and paying them directly, instead of through a teacher that reads their stuff at school
- Losing bodyfat by first balancing out my muscles, so I could ‘get more’ from every rep of every exercise I did…
There are a lot of these examples, but the important thing is that you see that large accomplishments can come out of small decisions. By thinking creatively about your life, and strategizing your best method to attack a goal, you stand a much higher chance of success.
Instead of walking blindly into a body transformation, career, education, or family goal, I dare you to plan it out. Think through all of the upsides, downsides, and fastest methods to achieve your goal. Then, consider the sustainability of your efforts over time. Is there an easier way to keep up with this long-term? How will you transition and when?
In the comments section below, here’s what I’d like you to do:
Write your goals for the next 16 weeks. Be very specific, and be sure to include the following categories for your goals. I recommend 1 goal for every category in the next 16 weeks.
- Health goals
- Family goals
- Career goals
- Adventure goals
- Financial goals
- Spirituality goals
Next, be sure to answer these questions for each goal:
- What is the fastest way to hit this goal? (i.e. for fat loss, it would be short-burst workouts and a rapid fat loss nutrition program – be specific.)
- What is the meaningful advantage of me reaching my goal?
- What will it feel like if I don’t hit my goal?
- Once I hit my goal, how will I keep it? What’s my long-term and/or transition plan?
The first step is to get all of this down and receive feedback. Let’s begin:
7 Comments
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from my “waist” up?
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Lunges are very difficult as near impossible because I had injured my hip. What can be done to strengthen the muscles around my hip so I can take advantage of these types of exercises?
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ok, here I go:
Health goal: I only need to lose about 10 pounds, I would like to be “trimmer” the belly flab gone, I eat pretty healthy and workout, but just need a little more nudging. I am 49 years old, a student of Josh Bezoni, (I believe you know him!) and an avid reader of your newsletter, right now its the push to do it all that I need. THE FASTEST WAY TO HIT THIS GOAL? motivation I guess.
I have a wonderful family, I feel like my goals there have been met, My children are grown and starting families of their own and doing better that I did, which is a mother’s dream.
Career goal: I also love my job. I would love to make a bit more money though. Maybe $200 a month more. THE FASTEST WAY TO HIT THIS GOAL? I am willing to do things on the side, I just haven’t found the right things.
Adventure goal:
Financial goal: like I said, $200 a month more, a better car and a house of our own, that would be nice. this answer is the same as career goal I supposethe other questions are what I need more help with.
Thanks Kareemjonni
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hey Jonni,
Great work, my friend – awesome answers to your ‘health’ and ‘financial’ goals. For clarification sake, let’s differentiate between ‘financial’ and ‘career’:
Financial – $ per year/month/week/day (however you want to look at it – I like by day and month the most — it helps me keep better track of my progress. For instance, if I wanted to make $10,000 in 30 days, that would be $333 per day, so it would be easy for me to keep track. Once I know how much I need to make per day, I think of something that can earn me that specific amount of income, and then I make it my goal for this job/task/moonlighting — once I commit, I simply weight my options and find the path of least resistance and greatest enjoyment.
Career – how do you want to advance your knowledge, position, field, etc? What are your career aspirations? We often think of this as children, but then we forget to set career goals when we get comfortable. In reality, we’re more apt to hit career goals than ever. Make sure you do this.
Now, onto your Health Goals — yes, I do know Josh – he’s a great friend.
Losing 10 pounds? Actually, I wrote a whole post on this — it’s right here: http://drkareem.com/article/lose-10-pounds/
Do the workout on this page 4 days per week for the next 30 days. You’ll see 🙂
Be sure to ask me some questions over there if you’re still unsure… Let’s make sure you hit this goal — it’s not that hard, and it’s not far away when you ‘organize’ your health.
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Health: lose 8 lbs
Family: Call my parents and loved ones more frequently
Career: Develop the idea that I came up with over two years ago into a solution that would benefit others
Adventure: Participate in an outdoor physical activity that I never thought I would do.
Financial: Increase my emergency savings by $6,000 by the end of October
Spirituality: Start every day with my daily devotion and meditation time -
Learning to establish goals and priorities is a must if you want to have any advancements in life, I have learned a lot from you since I started your workout programs about 10 months ago. I’m on week 24 of the DEFL now. I had a delay due to the fact that my brother had been hospitalized for a certain period and I had to spend much time in the hospital with him. I did not have any time available even when I was at home as I had so many things to do, but I listened to your audios and reviewed your webnars. Now I resumed the workouts and it was as if I had never stopped. Thank you for the clarity of your articles, your honesty in exposing your aims and for helping me see myself and my life in a different light. You’re awsome!
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Hi Rosa!
On behalf of Dr. K, thanks for appreciating DEFL and the info he tries to share with those that need it. Wishing you and your brother the best in fitness, health and life!
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