I am breaking my self-imposed 500 word limit for this post. Here is your “TLDR” (too long didn’t read):

Make goals, write them down, review them often. Do the work. You will surprise yourself.

And now, the post…

During the last week of 2015 and into the first days of the new year, I sat down, reflected on everything that had come my way that year and wrote out my goals for 2016.

What did I want to accomplish in the realm of PT?

What books did I want to read?

What goals did I want to achieve for my family?

What tasks did I want to tackle around the house?

What did I want my body to look like?

What did I want my thought life to look like?

Why did I want to improve?

I wrote down affirmations and mindsets that I wanted to maintain through the year, things that would help remind me why I am doing what I am doing. It wasn’t a “New Year, New Me!” New Years Resolution thing. It was deliberate, detailed, and direct. All in all, I had about six pages written out. I reviewed it daily, going over the affirmations and mindsets as well as the goals. Many times, I would say them out loud.

Halfway through the year, I modified the affirmations and mindsets to better reflect the things I had learned, as well as buttressing the goals I had already made. Did I hit all the goals? No. But I did make quite an impact to my list and I learned a lot along the way.

Out of the nine specific performance goals I had in the realm of physical fitness, I fulfilled two. In November, I was able to Squat and Dead-lift five sets of five reps/set at 225lbs. Among the others were goals regarding running, hitting a specific amount of pull ups, Bench Pressing and Overhead Pressing a specific amount of weight in the 5×5 model, as well as having a “defined six-pack abs”.

I set out with seven supporting goals for PT, things like “working out every day with intentionality and purpose”, getting proper rest, taking “no more than two consecutive rest days in a row”, limiting alcoholic drinks to “two per month”. And I noticed that the more specific my goal was, the more apt I was to hit it. The more vague it was, the least likely it was that I would hit it. I solidly fulfilled four of the seven.

Now, I don’t view the other goals that I didn’t hit as complete failures. By and large they weren’t. I made progress in all of them and I learned by the end of the year that some of the goals were a bit too high and would take more calculated steps to eventually achieve. The Bench Press, for example, I wanted to do the same work as the Deadlift and Squat. I’m not wired for those kinds of rapid gains, so, for the Bench, I need to take a slower and more methodical approach. Having six-pack abs was also unrealistic in that I focused solely on strength gains and didn’t do any sort of “cutting”. Did I build my core? Absolutely! You can make out a slight “design” of abs, but I still have a layer of fat to take care of. Of this, I am not ashamed.

Moving on to other goals.

I made nine miscellaneous goals, ranging from taking my family on an out-of-town Christmas vacation, to cleaning up the garage, to getting back into writing on my blog. I was able to accomplish six of these, including the Christmas vacation.

Regarding expanding my mind and learning, I set out with a list of thirteen books that I wanted to read. They ranged in topics from Leadership to Influence to Relationships to Finance. I read a total of twenty-two books, plus one carried over from December 2015 and as of the end of December 2016, I was juggling three others. As I learned and read, the reading list began to evolve. I began listening to podcasts as well. I can say with confidence that I have been exposed to some great thinking, interesting ideas and challenging reads. I haven’t regretted a single book. It was because of everything that I have read that I changed the name of the blog from “Strong 4 Family” to “In Pursuit of Mastery”. Maybe I’ll create a recommended reading list sometime.

The point of everything I have written above isn’t to brag. Just go back up to the TLDR disclosure:

Make goals, write them down, review them often. Do the work. You will surprise yourself.

 

 

I learned that, even though doing what I did yielded some good fruit, I can do more and I plan on trying a different approach this year to see what I can accomplish.

For example, in the realm of PT, instead of writing out goals with a year-end time stamp like I did in 2016. And yes, I do have a reading list for this year. It is starting much bigger than last year, with twenty-four books so far. I’ve left some blank spaces so I can write in further works. I’m looking forward to seeing how much I read by the end of the year. I am making all of my goals revolve around each quarter of the year, areas such as blogging, to-do projects for the house, things to do with my family, etc. I want to see how effective I can be by focusing on the quarter in front of me, while being mindful of the rest of the year because the goals ultimately contribute to the year-end goals

Yes, I have revised or added new and different mindset focuses and affirmations. I’ve also included a section for mindfulness, which is new for me, so I can review and reflect on each day and week’s progress. I also learned that five, six or seven pages to review daily can really add up in time spent being more effective in another area. Since I do not want to abandon the practice altogether, I have broken up the pages to review specific sections once a day. My hope is that I will not fall off the review wagon late into the year, as I did in 2016.

All in all, I have nine pages written out this year. And just like last year, I will carry these pages in a three-ring binder. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes…

Hopefully you have gleaned something from this. Want to change? Like really change? Then don’t fall for the New Year Resolution bullshit!

The process really isn’t anything new or groundbreaking.

Make goals – Make them matter to you, they need some umph and purpose behind them!

Write them down – Be as specific as possible, include deadlines.

Review them often – Keep them fresh in your mind.

Do the work – Nobody will do it for you, cupcake! Get to work!

You will surprise yourself – Seriously, you will be pleasantly surprised at what you accomplish.

As in all things, the picture below goes far beyond PT…

Pursue Mastery.