Do you know what you want to achieve in life or what direction you want to go?
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When I ask people this question most people are vague, they often say things such as “I want to lose weight”, or “I want to make more money”. These goals are not only too broad, and don’t have a time limit, but others perceive these as being too lofty and push you to aim low.
You need to have a direction that you want to go in life and then attach specific goals to help you along this direction, such as I want to lose 5kgs by the 30th of July 2021, this goal helps you move in the direction of living a healthier more enjoyable life. With money you can say I want to double my income by 31st of December 2022, which helps you on the direction of having more freedom with your family, give you more time to spend with your friends, and live the life you want to live.
However, these goals shouldn’t be the singular focus that represents an end game in itself. It should be a single point in an array of points that will push you towards the overall life experience. For example, losing a specific amount of weight should be considered as a small but significant singular achievement for the management of a healthier lifestyle. This way, once this small goal is reached, it is perceived as edging closer towards achieving the lived experience of a healthier lifestyle rather than let it fizzle out after the weight loss goal is achieved. Come back for more blogs to further your understanding in goal setting and habits.
Knowing where you want to be specifically and within the given time frame helps you break this big goals down into more realistic bite sized chunks.
I know that I, and many others I have spoken to have been overwhelmed by these making such big goals and the direction they need to take, but by breaking these down into smaller chunks makes them much more achievable, and each time you reach these markers and you get to tick the goals off you get a rush of endorphins as you hit the markers along the way.
With my life in martial arts I knew starting out I would enter in as a white belt, but I knew week by week and month by month I was improving along the syllabus when I put the work in, and every few months I would grade up to the next belt.
If I thought I would be able to go in and achieve my Black Belt within 6 months, not only would I be overwhelmed with the process, it wouldn’t hold as much weight in the final result. I also knew that not everyone that started when I did was going to compete at the Black Belt level, but the ones that did would have earned their stripes. I also knew that I was not only going to get very uncomfortable during the process, but that I was going to get punched, kicked and wrestled.
But what I didn’t know was how technique and skill would beat brute strength each time. I went in as a strong 93kg footballer, and coming up against 70kg skinny guys I thought I would wipe the floor with them, that was far from the case. My punches and kicks were telegraphed and slow, I would get put in such uncomfortable positions, on the floor I felt like I was drowning, I simply had no clue on how to deal with these guys.
Over the space of years I dropped down to a fighting weight of 65kgs, increased my speed accuracy and timing and was able to change my life for the better.
This all came down to me knowing what direction I wanted to go with my martial arts life, set some large goals of getting my black belt, and more importantly break these down into small bite sized chunks. I still have many friends from this part of my life and have enjoyed the journey immensely.
If you are interested in knowing more about finding your direction in life, click here.