Baby steps: Bringing the abstract of a distant goal into everyday reality.

May 18, 2018 O M

With a goal decided, this is ordinarily where the process of goal-setting ends - with a destination. But whether it's winning Wimbledon, one match, or as Rafa tells us, just a single game, it's the next step that is the most vital, and success or failure is decided. Setting a goal is the easy part. As we learned with the Ulysses contract, your present-self has no problem generating a grand vision for future-you, and equally no hesitation in delegating all the effort involved to the same poor fool.

But this is a mere defining of success, an end over which you have no direct control. And unless you think your goal might choose to do itself, it's now time to reverse-engineer this abstract ideal into your day-to-day reality.

Behaviour goals are the means to the end, an action, over which you have direct control every day - things you can choose to do. Or not.

This step further imposes a degree of honesty likely missing from an ‘aim for the stars’ fantasy. If reality was absent from the goal-setting process, it's here that is it makes it's boringly necessary appearance.

A small, clearly defined goal at the day-to-day level gives you both a consistent measure of progress and a sense of achievement otherwise missing from the slow grind to some distant future. Along with course-checking this also serves to build momentum. The acknowledgement of a small daily win reinforces confidence in your ability to follow your instructions and the knowledge that we can successfully control our behaviour, makes it more likely we will.

Creating Behaviour Goals

Consider the obstacles between you and your target, then address each of them in turn. Easy. These will vary depending on the nature of the goal, and they may be directly food or exercise related, or, more from the psychological level in commitment and adherence to your program. You then periodically repeat this process to remain on course, and also to ensure that the most pressing concerns - your greatest limiting factors - are addressed. You do not want to major in the minor.

Determining these limiting factors is triage. In some cases, such as injury, for example, our initial steps may not move us directly towards our goal. Here, we are forced to concede that although specific actions may not be our ultimate goal, they are our first. Set micro-goals that they are readily attainable so as not be discouraged in trying to follow these steps if there is any doubt as to whether you can tick these off day after day, make them more manageable. Alone they might seem insignificant, but there is power in their cumulative effect.

Most importantly, these daily actions force us to consider whether or not our behaviour matches our goal because the discrepancy between what people want, and what they are prepared to do, is where fitness and dietary dreams go to die. In this arena, you can be confident effort is rewarded and that 'but I've tried everything' frustrations come courtesy of chopping and changing honest (not really) attempts.

How might you the combat the fact you eat chocolate biscuits in front of the television at night?

change to plain biscuits
just eat one
don't watch television
substitute a herbal tea
etc. etc. etc.

Sure, you can try all those things, but whether they work or not, won't matter if you:

Never bring a biscuit inside your house.

A quick solve of particular issue but, of course, self-deception abounds, so if you also decide:

- But I can't do that!

You'll find that you have defined your degree of commitment pretty sharply too.

Note that these daily behaviour goals are at a tactical level, but be sure you've dealt with the strategic level first. Less than optimal tactics directed towards a good overall plan will work fine, but the best tactics in the world will never overcome a poor or mistaken strategy.

e.g. the old classic: seeking to lose fat instead but pursuing the misguided strategy to lose 'weight', which invariably includes tactics that could hardly be better for INCREASING FAT over the long-term.

If we can assume accuracy about what you want, failure then is usually down to not knowing either what methods or the degree of commitment required for success.

Doing it wrong

The wrong tool for the job is a common problem - and in particular using a cardio-based program, pilates, yoga or any number of alternatives as a means of body-change. At best you are making things much harder for yourself. But not only does this apply in other areas, disturbingly, these misconceptions are (still) often the rule.

Restrictive dieting as an effective method of sustainable fat-loss
Doing crunches, or any other ab-exercise, in pursuit of a flat stomach
'Burning' fat by exercising at a lower intensity

Using the wrong tools and methods will only, can only, lead to frustration - that's what happens when you try and chop wood with a toothbrush. But this is only half the equation, and selecting the right tools and methods, but then not doing the work required will result in same.

Not doing enough

The predictable result of fitness industry marketing promising miracle transformations - the whole 'easy results in minutes a day' rubbish. The standard pattern of behaviour is that most end up following a program of exercise, or dietary control at a level barely that of maintenance. In some instances there will be some initial progress - anything is an advance on the nothing they have been doing to that point. From that point, many do only enough to go nowhere, perpetually waiting for a bus that ain't coming. All too often this is with the fraudulent 'support' of some 'expert' who changes nothing, while continuing to suggest that success is always just around the corner.

Inevitably, we arrive at the same parade of tired old justifications - the wrong program, the wrong gear, the wrong time, the wrong genetics.

All wrong, but all perfectly rational. With society saturated by 'miracle results' messaging, a market that doesn't know any better and always looking for the easy option, people will hear what they want to. And there is always someone who'll sell you something to make it easier.

Somebody who'll just tell you what you want to hear - of course, 30 minutes twice a week is enough.

I will hasten to add that this should be a gradual progression towards the work necessary, but initial efforts should be downscaled so that they are not just easy, but absurdly easy - so that it would be embarrassing not to i.e. floss one tooth

However, as a point of reference, let's say your goal was healthily sustainable fat-loss and you wanted to achieve that in the fastest time possible. In this instance you'll be looking at the following:

Exercise: 5-7 hours per week, with the caveat that for best results this should be followed 90% of the time. Given your ten workouts over two weeks you could then miss one.
Dietary guidelines are similar, and if you are eating six meals/snacks over the course of the day then over the course of a week you should be following Precision Nutrition principles for 38 out of 42 meals.

AGAIN, I emphasise that this is not necessary if you are prepared to allow for a more reasonable timeframe, and, for building sustainable fitness and dietary habits, and certainly for a starting point, it is not something I would recommend, I include it only as a point of reference, to underline the fact it is not easy. It is a hell of a long way from 'miracles' and 'secrets' and magic fat-melting pills.

But given the hundreds of thousands of people globally who have been successful following this advice, it is undoubtedly better than the frustration that comes in pursuing a dead-end. However easy it might be.

If you want to change your body shape in a hurry and you then miss one or two sessions on most weeks and only follow the nutritional principles half the time (maybe), you are not even close. So what do you think is going to happen?

Not much. To think otherwise means that the only thing wrong with this picture is your expectations. Sure, this might be a painful realisation, but it's also the very definition of a game-changer, because it gives you the opportunity to fix something. Instead of seeking out yet another shiny object that you hope will exonerate you from the work required, and the cycle continuing, now you can make some real progress.

As ever, this demands honest self-assessment. Review regularly whether or not your behaviours match your goal. If so, keep going. If not, adjust your behaviour up, or your goal down. Either way is fine - and acknowledge that your degree of commitment will often be determined for you by career, family or any number of external influences. That's called reality.

Whatever discrepancy exists between what you say you want and how you are currently living represents exactly the degree of failure. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't delude yourself into thinking the fitness gods are against you, that you are in some fashion being cheated out of your just rewards. Control your behaviour by the minute, by the hour. By the day. You can care, want, need, desire anything at all you like, but to get it, you have to live it.

Do the hard work to get where you want to be and then you can slip back into more of a maintenance mode. Although to be clear, this still requires work - there is no finish line.

Assuming you have undertaken due diligence* and settled on a suitable method and you understand the level of commitment required to reach your goal - the time for debate is over. It's time for action. And discipline. Don't pretend you are always going to feel motivated, or conversely, that you'll get anywhere if you act only when you are. There will be (many, many, many) days when you just cannot be bothered. Are they going in the discrepancy (certain failure) column, or are you going to do it anyway?

The more you ignore the urge to fold the better you'll get at it. Learn to love the the process and be on the lookout for improvements you may not have anticipated - with any degree of performance, or body-shape, change you can look forward to a host of them.

Forget the big picture and concentrate only on what you have to do - what you can control. Keep your eyes in the boat and don't waste time with what others are doing, second-guessing yourself, or your course of action. All are a waste of time and energy. It is a sign of training maturity to acknowledge that the 'best' program, exercise, diet or whatever else, will always be something you are not doing. But you'll keep doing it anyway. Ensure your resources and knowledge are sound, your level of commitment is realistic and trust the process.