The “quitties” and your future self
We all feel like quitting from time to time, and that’s completely normal.
What about the times we quit on the same goal over and over again? Is there something you’ve tried to accomplish, but haven’t quite reached the finish line?
You’re not alone. It’s happened to all of us.
What if we thought about goals differently? What if we didn’t create such a grandiose plan relying solely on will power to get us through? What if we backed into the GRAND RESULT we’re trying to achieve with mini victories over the mundane and ingrained habits that we have? The things that don’t seem to matter, actually really do.
The smaller the goals the easier to achieve, the more victories we gain the more we want to repeat and do those things again - your brain loves that feel good dopamine hit - gold stars - checking the boxes, it feels good.
In the case of weight, a common goal that we all seem to chase in one form or another, sometime in our lives …
What if we sat down for 5-10 minutes a day and planned what we were going to eat tomorrow?
What if we, in that time envisioned what roadblocks we might face tomorrow and make a plan to overcome them ahead of time?
What if we really took time to decide why the goal is important to us?
What if we gave ourselves a check mark or a gold star for every 8oz glass of water we drank, every good decision we made?
What if we just concentrated on the daily doable goals?
If we did those things for ourselves, you’d create an unshakable foundation, and gain important goal sustaining skills. Your gains will look like something like this:
Trust in yourself to do what you say you’re going to do - THIS is usually a huge sticking point for people, not understanding why they don’t do what they say they are going to do. I believe it’s because there is too much focus on the GRAND RESULT and not enough focus on exactly what you’re going to do tomorrow and hold your self accountable to just that.
The ability to participate in “cake celebrations”. If you establish a habit of planning one day in advance, you have the opportunity to enjoy a birthday party or any other celebrations. When you plan for it, there is no decision drama or “falling off the wagon” and what ever self loathing comes with doing that.
Equip yourself with strategies for the obstacles and roadblocks. If you know there is a candy dish that you have to walk by to get to your desk every day, and part of your goal is not to eat candy, what are you going to do to protect your plan? Get real creative with your strategies on these kinds of things. Let your brain chatter know there is a way around it and sticking your fist in the bowl every time you walk by it is not the answer.
“What’s your why” is the buzz-phrase in all mindset and goal coaching - but it’s a legit tool. Understanding your personal reasons for wanting to reach the end-goal is pretty important. Your why needs to be more important and stronger than any excuse your brain is going to offer up (and it will offer up a lot). So you’re going to need to think about this one a little bit and it’s going to need to align with your integrity and character.
Reinforce with celebrations that align with your goals - every day! We don’t do this enough. We need to let our brains know that our efforts count or it’s going to get really “quittie” and start whispering things to you like “I’m just going to have one”, “you can sleep in”, “tracking is such a pain” “one cookie isn’t going to break your goal”.
Every positive step you make toward your goal needs to be reinforced. Maybe a check mark or a gold star in your planner helps, maybe telling a friend about how you’re keeping yourself accountable will allow for more reinforcing conversations, maybe you look at your tracker each evening and give your self an “atta-kid”, each success counts and deserves recognition. Its data, to show you how you’re doing, simple as that.
These strengths will be the catalyst in setting your future self up for success. Take a moment to envision your future self, what do you want for her (him/them)? What will you do now to help her (him/them)?
How powerful it will be, for you to look back at your week, your month, your year as your future self and SEE how you supported her (his/their) goals and dreams and set her up for success!
Have a great week my friends!
