Ever wondered why you never make your goals? So many people set out with good intentions at the beginning of the year, by creating new year resolutions. But unfortunately, many fail after their initial attempts. For many, the reason being due to not giving any thought about the PLAN to execute the goal.
I've been very fortunate in having several careers before finding my true passion as a mental toughness coach. Consequently I've learnt a number of skills, tools and techniques along the way . Many of these I use today to help my clients. One such tool which proved to be highly effective was the 5P's, otherwise known as P%$s Poor Planning leads to Poor Performance.
Having a goal without a plan on how to execute it, is like buying a car and not having the skills to drive it. So if you want to smash your goal this year take some time out to identify want you need to do to achieve it. As always I'll give you an example and this is my current one - so very real.
My goal this year is to increase my fitness by loosing weight. I've set myself a target of loosing 2 stone by the end of the year - huge challenge. So my goal is specific and time bound and most definitely challenging, but within my capability. In order to ensure I meet the target I need to create a plan to follow that will look at all the aspects required to achieve it. I bought a journal and set out the key components needed to reach my goal. They included documenting my weight and specific body measurements which will be assessed and recorded weekly. The other aspects include;
Weekly exercise plan - this forces me to book sessions for cardio, strength training and flexibilityWeekly meal plan - Planning my meals helps me to calculate the calories, including snacks and treats allowed. Improves my nutrition as I'm now calculating grains, fruit and veg consumed daily. An additional benefit to planning my meals has given me a defined shopping list, which prevents me buying other items not required/allowedRegister the number of glasses of water drank daily - hydration is key and drinking the required number keeps me focused and stops the snacking I have found sitting down documenting in advance not only keeps me on track, but also makes me accountable. Seeing the recorded improvements weekly, keeps me motivated and if I've had a bad week I can track back and find where I need to tweak the plan to get the results. Because I'm now fully aware of how each piece helps me achieve my goal, I've now started to look at food not so much in calorific content but the equivalent workout required to burn it off. You'll be amazed how this helps you make the right choice!
So take some time out think about the goal you want to achieve and then break it down into the key components required to achieve it. Once you have them set about creating a weekly plan to help you meet your target and document it in a journal, make yourself accountable. You will be surprised how effective this strategy is. If you would like help to create a winning plan please get in touch, we're here to help.
If you would like to learn more about the mental side of the game visit our website and get in touch. Hope you enjoyed this week's blog, please drop me an email and let me know what you think, I would love to hear from you. Visit our website and check out our other blogs, there's something in there for everyone.