Me getting my butt kicked over the weekend at Crossfit Tribe
“I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacation with better care than they do their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.”
– Jim Rohn
If you missed part 1 you can find it HERE:
Alright, so now you’ve done some soul searching and got yourself a heap of dreams. Great work, now we need to start shaping these dreams into manageable goals.
One of my dreams was being successful in my sport. Right now this is Cross fit. Being successful in crossfit is more of a dream and not quite a real goal yet. Although a fine dream, its lacking a few major characteristics that make it achievable. Lets take this dream through a few steps to form it into a solid goal.
1. Make your goal specific – First we’ve got to make this more specific. What constitutes success? Well, for me this means qualifying for additional higher level competitions. For now my specific goals are to qualify for the regional level competition and then the games thereafter. If your goal was financial success, put a number on the amount you’d like to achieve. We’ll stick with the cross fit goals example for the remainder of the series.
2. Make your goal timely – Now that we have a specific goal in mind we need a deadline. When do you want to accomplish this goal by? For me this is easy. The Crossfit Games only come around once per year. The only decision I have to make is do I want to qualify this year or three years from now? In my case these are goals for the 2012 competition which begins February 26th. Having a deadline keeps you focused toward your goal and should give you a push to achieve the goal by the chosen time.
3. Make your goal reasonable – I encourage everyone to achieve greatness but we want to make dreams realistic. Being a well respected author or speaker on a global level is quite realistic but it is most likely going to take many years to accomplish. Make the time line reasonable
On the other hand, becoming a millionaire by selling used license plates might not be reasonable at all. The goal must be something that is actually attainable. Try to pick something that is a bit of a stretch to achieve but isn’t too daunting and difficult to achieve. If its too difficult you may lose motivation due to a lack of belief in yourself to reach the goal. The most successful athletes I’ve encountered have an iron clad belief in themselves and their abilities. They honestly believe they can become the best and getting there is not an insurmountable thought. Bottom line: Believe in yourself, but don’t set yourself up for failure by picking a goal that is not realistic.
Saying that I would win the cross fit games this year is a big stretch for me. Making it to the games is a bit of a stretch too. However, getting there is not unrealistic for me given my own personal ability. I believe that and can get behind a goal. its reasonable to me. My goal motivates me to be better then I am currently but isn’t too daunting so that I’ll give up on it.
4. Make your goal measurable – An ideal goal needs to have a built in system for knowing whether or not you are making progress toward the goal. In my case I want to qualify for a few higher level cross fit competitions. How will I know if I’m making progress toward that goal with my training?
For one, I measure my progress weekly and take note of my improvements. I also have taken into account how fast and strong the athletes I’ll be competing against in each competition. To win I’ll have to be better then they are.
I know that I’ll have to have “x” amount of measurable improvement in “x” event in order to beat all the competitors in this field. For example, if I know that the winners of the first open competition will be Clean and Jerking 250 pounds then I will have to be able to lift over 250 pounds to beat them. If my clean and jerk is currently at 220 pounds and the competition is 4 weeks away, I have to add 10 pounds to my clean and jerk each week in order to beat everybody. I can measure my improvements. This is one area we can focus on specifically with our action steps in the next post.
So now my dream of being successful in cross fit has been tuned up and a well thought out goal has been formulated. Here it is.
I will qualify for the 2012 cross fit regional competition and cross fit games.
My goal is specific, has a timeline, is reasonable and I can measure my progress easily. This sets me up for future success. Try to set your goals up similarly so that achieving them can go from a dream to a reality.
Next post we’ll talk about putting all of this into action. Let’s get to work!