What are your goals within the gym? Are your goals being aligned with your priorities?
Goal setting in the gym can be a little bit tricky sometimes. There’s a very fine line between what you SHOULD be doing and what you WANT to be doing. That’s why it’s important to have realistic expectations about the possibility of reaching your goals and choose goals that will benefit you regardless of the outcome. At the end of the day, your goals need to be aligned with your priorities.
Let’s say the GOAL in the gym is to get stronger. The PRIORITIES would be doing the things that need to be done in order to reach that goal. This doesn’t just mean strength training inside the gym, it means aligning other priorities outside of the gym in order to meet that goal. This includes sleep, recovery, and nutrition at the forefront of your priorities. It's just like putting all your eggs in one basket, there should be one focus (a goal), actions that sustain that focus (priorities), and a plan to get there (execution, ie. I'm going to sleep 8+ hours a night, drink my bodyweight in oz of water, and eat minimally processed foods while strength training 4x a week). Here is where you start to align your actions with your goals.
So how do we know what our goals are, and how to prioritize each step to make sure goals are met?
• Reflect on values- identify what you value and align your behaviors to highlight that
• Stay Accountable- daily affirmations in consistently doing the right things
• Be realistic- understand there is no fast way to a goal; patience and consistency are key
• Know that you may fail- this is why goal choice is key, you want to be able to choose something challenging, yet obtainable
• Learn from the journey- lessons and growth you gain from aligning priorities to reach a goal will change you
Talk to your coach about your goals- guidance from a 3rd party can be the key to setting realistic goals and timelines, executing a plan, and staying accountable, and understanding the process regardless of the outcome