I see it all the time, people have reached their fitness GOALS in the past, got complacent, and fell off for a while only to come back heavier than before. They wonder why this keeps happening. They set a goal to lose 10 pounds and reach that goal, yet they could have lost 20-25, and been at a healthier place. However, 10 was a safer more attainable goal to reach for.

There is this misconception that setting a goal to high will cause you to lose motivation.  The thinking behind this says “wow that’s a big goal I’m never going to be able to reach it.” An example would be a person that needs to lose 20lb or 25lbs sets a goal of 10lbs to lose. He/she cuts out soda and sweets for a month, loses the weight, pats themselves on the back, and rewards themselves with all the things they didn’t have for that month, and the fat comes back in a week.

Here’s what happened. You did not set your goal high enough to keep you excited! There is a saying flying around right now that says “Set your goals high enough to inspire you and low enough to encourage you.” How do “goals” that don’t get you to the place you really want to be encourage you? Is it really a goal if it’s that easy to reach? Your goals for yourself should be so high, and borderline outrageous that even your imagination has a hard time seeing it. They should be so high you think to yourself “if I do this they should make a movie out of me” so when you wake up you can literally step into your own “movie.”

The idea that your goals need to even be attainable is a little off to me. In fitness I have a goal to squat 700lbs someday, which is rather far fetch for me. In life I have a goal to help millions of people live a healthy, vibrant life. Yes I said MILLIONS. The point is it doesn’t matter if I reach these goals or not, I will be stronger reaching for a 700lb squat then I would be reaching for a 400lb squat, and quitting on my potential when I got there. I will have helped more people when I strive to help millions of people rather than If I said I’m going to help 100 because it’s safe. In relation to the example above if you say you are going to lose 25lbs and you only make it 75% you’ve still lost almost 19 pounds, and have more to strive for to keep you on track compared to the safe 10 pound goal.

Set your goals high enough to keep you excited, and high enough that you can say “they could make a movie out of this.”

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