If I told you that there was a 69% increase in the likelihood of you achieving your goal by employing one thing, I guess you would bite my hand off to find out what that was.
Well, that one thing is………..Accountability. In Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s amazing book ‘The One Thing’, they discuss the many ways you can achieve a goal fast. But by far the most powerful thing you can do, is to be held accountable to someone.
This can be a friend or a foe and in fact, if you tell a foe that you are going to do something, your ego will help you on those days when you might not want to go to the gym or pass on a lovely piece of cake. For example, You don’t like Mike or Mary from the accounting department, they are always so smug etc etc. You decide that you want to run a half marathon or deadlift 200kg or lose some weight. You tell Mike or Mary this. Then imagine this, its Tuesday night and it’s raining and you have had a tough day at work, you have a sniffle, an itchy nose and you are looking for an excuse not to train or do your rehab; all of a sudden, Mike or Mary’s head pops into your mind with a smug smile and a waggy finger saying in a high pitch voice ‘I knew you couldn’t do it’. BOOM, ego gets a kick and your chances of getting to the gym etc go up.
Other tips for achieving a goal are as follows:
- Plan plan and plan – saying that you will do something is called a dopamine hit. Saying you will do something followed by an exact plan of how you will achieve it, is called success. Everything from time, equipment, finances etc should all be considered in the plan.
- Write it down and have it somewhere you have access to quickly i.e. phone. (39% increase your chances of achieving your goal)
- Have a photo or video of the reason why you want to achieve the goal. This can be used to fire off a dopamine hit and get you motivated to train.
- Listen to music or watch a short youtube video on something that motivates you to achieve the goal especially when your will power is low.
- If you miss a few sessions or eat too much cake, FORGIVE yourself. Guilt is the enemy and drives a stress response in your brain, which therefore seeks out stress relieving strategies that are often not in line with your goal i.e. eat more cake or continuing to watch TV instead of training to make yourself feel better. This is called instant gratification and is often not helpful.
- Repeat this activity for approximately 66 days and a habit can be formed (UCL research). This means, it just gets easier to maintain and requires less will power.
- Add in accountability and you are well on your way
If you are interested in more of this and want a physiotherapist who understands behavioural change, get in touch www.procaresportsmedicine.comor call 07840180668 as we will hold you accountable.
COME BACK STRONGER
