Ask yourself the 5 whys
As 2017 approaches I am sure many of you are already thinking of those resolutions to work on come January 1st. I cringe at the thought. It humours me to think that we can magically be perfect humans, have a fresh start in the new year, and all of a sudden reach all of the goals that we have seemed to fall short of achieving in previous years. I have spoken on this topic before but I have a new approach that I want to try myself when setting goals this upcoming year.
Setting realistic goals is always a good place to start. We need to reevaluate the goals and aspirations we had for 2016 and reflect. What worked and what didn’t. Why were some of those goals easy to accomplish when others will be back on the list for yet another year? When you decide to set your (dare I say it!) resolutions for the new year ahead, make sure you really look yourself in the mirror and be honest and realistic. The goals we wish to accomplish can still be just out of our reach, (because if they weren’t we wouldn’t be motivated and have the fire in our eyes and drive to get there), but, they can’t come from a lack of understanding of how you get there. Our goals can be as big as we want them to be but remember to break them down to smaller pieces and take each step accordingly to get there.
The goal setting part is easy. We can take even just a few moments and I can guarantee that we all want to hit the gym more, sleep more, eat better, get stronger, lose weight, travel more, spend more time with family and friends. Am I right? These are the typical resolutions we all want to accomplish but we put little thought into understanding ourselves and how we as individuals are going to get there. Maybe it starts with an agenda and a calendar, maybe a friend to motivate you, maybe a competition to keep you committed to a training regime. Find what works for you and use it to your advantage.
What about for those goals that always seem just too far out of our reach? We never talk about those. We don’t want to make a social media post admitting a failure or a shortcoming. For my own personal goal setting I am going to try a new approach when it comes to digging deeper into those goals I have still yet to reach. It is called the 5 whys. I have read about this concept in business books and fitness books and know its application can be used in various contexts. It starts by asking yourself a question. For example, “why did my goal of working out 4 times a week fail?”. From there, you take the answer of your initial question and ask another question. For example, if my answer was “because I didn’t have enough time for 4 workouts a week” I then ask, “why didn’t I have time to work out 4 times per week”. From there, you continue the process until you ask yourself 5 whys. This helps us break down a larger more generalized question or statement to understand the underlying issues. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
I always think our failures, disappointments, and shortcomings from goal setting stem a lot from fear. I think we fear failure. Rather than put work in and risk not meeting our own expectations, we would rather not put the effort in and as a result not feel as let down when we don’t see the results we desire. Let’s eliminate the fear by having the drive to want to feel our best. Nothing bad can ever come from hard work. If we succeed we feel accomplished and if we fall short it helps us go back to the drawing board and reset. Never let your fears hinder you from giving yourself a chance for greatness. Be great. Be confident. Always. Never settle for a life that doesn’t excite you. Go out and get it!
Be fierce. Be strong. Be vibrant.
Rachel
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