When goals can be a bad thing

By Heather Smith

Setting a goal can be great as it gives you something to work towards and help you stay on track. But, if you only eat well and exercise for the sake of one goal, you’re not making the same connections to the bigger picture and are likely missing out on other benefits of living a healthy lifestyle. Being exclusively focused on a single goal can lead to a cycle where you’re on-plan for a while, then off-plan. Whereas if you’re open to the bigger picture, you can see things differently. This is one of the most common things I hear from clients. They realise they no longer even want to eat off plan. They’ve made connections between the way they eat and exercise and the way they feel. Their actions become about much more than a means to an end. Similarly, if you only have one reason for eating or exercising, you can end up disappointed. Progress isn’t made in a linear fashion and if all you want is to see fast change, you’re likely to find yourself discouraged at some point and fall off-track.

Olympic athletes can lose their drive to exercise after they’ve competed. They can’t think why they’re bothering to exercise anymore, there’s just no point to it after they’ve already reached their goal – there’s nothing to work towards next Alternative things to focus on www.fitbiztraining.co.uk

It is great to have a goal in mind, but it shouldn’t be the most important reason to take action. Learn how to enjoy the whole process, how to enjoy eating well and exercising. Notice things other than those directly related to what you want to achieve. How do you feel in yourself? How’s your digestion? How’s your skin? What’s your energy like? Are you sleeping better?

There must be more to the process than the exclusive focus on your goal if you’re to stick the course and really feel the benefits of making what can be difficult lifestyle changes.