Pick a Goal or a Date, Not Both

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your goals? Do you find yourself struggling to make progress, despite your best efforts? 

If so, it might be time to rethink your approach.

When it comes to setting and achieving goals, many of us make the mistake of trying to do too much at once. We set a specific goal and a deadline for achieving it. We create pressure on ourselves and make the process more difficult than it needs to be. 

However, choosing to focus on either a goal or a date, not both, can be a more effective way to achieve success. Here's why:

When you try to achieve a specific goal by a set deadline, you're essentially trying to control two variables – your progress towards the goal, and the amount of time it takes you to achieve it. This can make it difficult to stay motivated, especially if you encounter unexpected obstacles along the way.

On the other hand, if you focus on just one variable - either the goal or the date - you can simplify your approach and make it easier to stay on track. 

For example, if you choose to focus on a specific goal, you can give yourself more flexibility with the timeline for achieving it. This can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed or stressed, and make it easier to stay motivated.

Alternatively, if you choose to focus on a specific date, you can give yourself more flexibility with the goal itself. This can help you stay motivated even if you encounter setbacks, because you're not putting pressure on yourself to achieve a specific outcome.

Let's look at an example. 

Say your goal is to run a 5k race, and you want to do it in under 30 minutes. If you set a deadline for completing this goal - say, three months from now - you might feel pressured to achieve both the goal and the deadline at the same time. But, if you choose to focus on the goal itself, you can give yourself more time to achieve it, and adjust your timeline as needed. 

Conversely, if you choose to focus on the deadline, you can give yourself more flexibility with the goal, and adjust your expectations based on your progress.

Simplify your approach, make it easier to achieve success. Stay motivated and avoid being overwhelmed, while still working towards meaningful goals.

At the end of the day, it’s important to realize that the goal often doesn’t matter. 

The goal is almost always some milestone towards achieving something else: Feelings of success, recognition, self-worth, growth (We’re betting that if you’re reading this, your financial income doesn’t depend on this fitness goal). 

So if you’re setting yourself up for excessive frustration, angst and self-doubt along the way, then you’re kind of defeating the purpose.