Hang on. Goals are good… They give us something to work towards – don’t they?
Well, yes.
But as with so many other things, the middle of the road is the place to be. You see, if you are wholly focussed on a goal, you are likely missing out on the other benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.
If you are only eating well and exercising for the sake of your one goal, you’re not making the same connections to the bigger picture.
Being completely and exclusively focussed on a single goal can lead to an on/off cycle where you’re on-plan for a while, then you’re off-plan again. Whereas if you’re open to the bigger picture, you start to see things differently.
In fact, this is one of the most common things I hear from my clients. They suddenly realise that they no longer even WANT to eat off plan. They’ve made some connections between the way they eat and exercise, and the way they feel. Their actions become about so much more than a means to an end.
Similarly, if you only have one reason for eating or exercising well, you can find yourself disappointed very quickly! Progress doesn’t usually play ball in a linear fashion, and if all you want is to see is change in one metric, then you’re likely to find yourself disappointed at some point – which means you’re likely to fall off-track, again.
It’s fairly common for Olympic athletes to totally lose their drive to exercise after they’ve competed. They can’t think why they’re bothering to exercise any more, there’s just no point to it anymore because they’ve already reached their goal – there is nothing to work towards next.
Of course it is great to have a goal in mind, but the point of today’s message is to remind you that the goal shouldn’t be the be all and end all of your reason to take action.
Learn how to enjoy the whole process. Learn how to enjoy eating well and exercising. Notice things other than those directly related to what you want to achieve. How do you feel in yourself? How’s your digestion? How is your skin? What’s your energy like? Are you sleeping better?
There must be more to the process than the exclusive focus on your goal if you’re to stick the course and really feel the benefits of making what can be difficult lifestyle changes.