Setting Goals

Dear Friend,

I hope you had a good holiday season. I, for one, am glad it's over. The end of the holiday season means everything can get back to normal. It also means that now is the time to re-focus and set some new goals for the new year. Not just bodybuilding & fitness goals, but goals for all areas of your life.

Just do it, OK! And don't worry about not reaching your goals. If you don't set any goals, you'll probably make very little progress, if at all. And the longer you put off writing down your goals, the less likely you are to ever do it.

You may be worried that if you set goals and don't achieve them you'll feel bad or feel like a loser. I understand.

But I've noticed a pattern. Year after year I set goals that I never achieve. Yeah, it bothers me and sometimes it just downright pains me. But I'm always further ahead than if I didn't set any goals at all.

Let's say that you set a goal of having a measurement of 17" on your upper arm in 6 months. And for example's sake, let's say your upper arm currently measures 15".

So you work really hard in the gym and eat correctly, but lo and behold, six months later your upper arm only measures 16"!

Now you're really bummed. You missed your goal. You don't have a 17" arm like you wanted and like you wrote down in your goals journal.

But you gained a solid inch and now have a 16" arm! That's pretty darn good in my book!

And I'd be willing to bet you a year's supply of protein powder that if you never would have set a goal in the first place, six months later you'd still be sporting a pair of 15" arms.

I can guarantee this...if you DON'T set any goals, you'll accomplish EXACTLY what you've been striving for...NOTHING!

All this doesn't have to be rocket science and highly structured. Here's what I did...

Last night I grabbed a legal pad and a pen and went to my favorite coffee shop. I sat down in a quiet area with a cup of Highlander Grogg (no sugar, of course!) and started thinking about what I wanted.

I just started writing (in no particular order) some of the things I wanted to accomplish in my life. These weren't necessarily things that I would be able to accomplish in 2002. Just whatever came to mind. I didn't stop to analyze things, I just kept writing until I ran out of ideas.

Once the flow of ideas and thoughts had stopped, I turned to a separate page and wrote "bodybuilding goals" at the top.

On that page I wrote down what I wanted my measurements and body fat % to be by the end of 2002. Believe me, at first it was quite a stretch for me to believe that I can reach this goal in only a year. But I'd rather aim high so that even if I do miss, I'm still a lot further ahead than I would have been had I set my sights too low.

I then "back-tracked" 3 months and set some shorter term goals.

I kept back tracking until I had goals set for my progress every three months for the whole year. Breaking a big year-long goal into smaller believable "chunks" makes it a lot easier for me to believe that I can accomplish the goal.

For example, setting a goal of having an 18" arm in 12 months when you currently have a 15" arm is a little difficult to believe.

But when you break that down into smaller "sub-goals" you realize that's only a gain of 1/4" every month for 12 months. It seems a lot more believable for me.

And you gotta believe it if you want to see it accomplished. You can't set a goal that is incongruent with your self image or belief system. If you don't believe it can be accomplished, you won't do the things necessary to make it a reality. You'll unconsciously sabotage your own efforts.

So go set some goals this year. ANY goals. If you continue to do what you've always done, you'll continue to get what you've always gotten.

If you're not happy with where you are, write down some goals and get started on a plan for achieving them.

Remember, you don't have to get it perfect, you just have to get it GOING. MOTION, even when you make mistakes along the way, is MUCH, MUCH better than MEDITATION.

Just do SOMETHING! You might be surprised with the results.

So you're thinking, "Geez, Dan! Who died and made you Tony Robbins?"

Look. I know this stuff is true because I am a motivational speaker, and I live...IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER! (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

Alright, alright! So I got you all pumped up about setting some goals but you say I haven't given you any instruction.

Oh ye of little faith! I was getting to that part! It just really doesn't do any good to tell you HOW to accomplish something when you haven't figured out WHAT you want and WHY you want it and most importantly WHEN you want it. A goal without a date is merely a wish...and will probably remain as such!

So I'm going to assume that you've heeded my advice and have written down some goals for the new year.

If your goal has anything to do with losing weight and/or gaining muscle, then some of the most effective training routines and nutrition information can be found in my eBook, "Advanced Anabolic Secrets. How to totally transform your physique in 8 weeks or less".

You can download this eBook at: www.anabolicsecrets.com and best of all...it's FREE!

So now I'll let you in on one last powerful secret that is GUARANTEED to help you accomplish your goals as quickly as possible!

Every day, either first thing in the morning or right before bed, write out your goals again.

Yeah, I know you already wrote them down, but write them down in a notebook every single day.

Brian Tracy says that this one secret alone can help you accomplish your goals up to 7 times faster than if you just write your goals once and toss them in a drawer.

Try it. It only takes a couple of minutes a day and you might be AMAZED at the results.

All the best for a happy & prosperous new year!