Have you ever watched the movie “American Sniper?”
I’m not gonna spoil it for ya if you haven’t, but there’s a line that is said by the instructor of the main character that should hit home in a big way if you haven’t hit your goals in a while:
“Aim Small. Miss Small.”
Experience tells us this. We just haven’t trained ourselves to think this way, but it is life changing if you find it hard to hit goals.
Often when someone sets a goal, it is big and broad. Like my least favorite one (sorry if I’m calling you out here, but ya need to here it), “I wanna get toned.”
If you told me that was your goal on day one, I gave you my speed dial answer of “What does toned mean to you?”
Because toned is incredibly vague. It’s like happiness, it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
If you aim for a vague goal, there’s so many paths there that there is no urgency or there is an insane amount of overwhelm.
Often athletes with vague goals that keep them vague give up on the actions they set out to do because the results they are getting are just as vague to them.
So, the best way to reduce the field of vision is to define, define, and define again.
Define it until you keep on giving yourself the same answer and then try to make it smaller.
Now what if you do that and your goal ends up being:
“I want to hit a 315# back squat because it’ll help me feel confident and safe when I work my job as a bouncer on Washington St.”
But, your current back squat is 135#.
Then you need to set up steps along the way that will reward you knowing that it is taking you there. THEN GET EVEN SMALLER.
Down to the daily task that will get you there.
“If I come to every squat day at Vegvisir for the next year, I know I will eventually hit 315# while feeling my capability and safety increase the whole way. Next stop, 155#”
Now that’s a narrow and reachable goal. You know what happens to this athlete, even if they don’t hit that 315#, they still keep feeling how they want to feel and hit successful milestones all along the way.
So, now it’s your turn and put your goal to the test.
Remember, “Aim Small, Miss Small.”
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