DAY 4: The Big Lie of Goal Setting

Back in March of this year I had the honor of speaking at the first TEDxLSU.  It was both a learning and humbling experience because I was forced to have an idea, and present on it without having any real interaction with the crowd.  You can check it out above, but I'll summarize one of the big takeaways.  You have to set a goal based on your personal "WHY?", and the achievement of a goal that is "WHY?" based can shape your life.  But what if I was lying? As I researched for this presentation, I did the requisite visiting of the TED Talks website.  The first video I watched was by Simon Sinek.  Little did I know that his talk would shake things up for me.  After buying into Sinek's Golden Circle, and the premise that people buy into not what and how we do things, but why we do them, I began filtering all my topic choices through a filter of WHY?.  I tied it together with a story of a swim I did a few years back.  You can see the whole shebang and hear what I said below.

[youtube id=pxtGJth-r1M width="620" height="360"]

Fast forward to just last month.  A friend of mine gave me the gift of a book by Dr. Stan Beecham called Elite Minds: Creating the Competitive Advantage.  It's a fantastic read that covers a lot of both sports and business related "motivations"  and the like.  The biggest eye opener for me however was his chapter called The Intention of Why.  It's in this chapter that I have adapted my thoughts on goal setting.  In my video I say things that are pretty much the stock "goal setting 101" items.  Write it down, tell people, seek out help, do the work, and most importantly base it on something that tie's into WHY you believe you are here or WHY you do the things you do.  Dr. Beecham takes it one further in the forming and culling of these goals and says that we are setting goals that are too easy.  This is what I mean by the Big Lie.  While everything we do can't be earth shattering, if we set true stretches, things that scare us, things we may only have a 20-30% chance of achieving, it is then that we will be fulfilled.  I know that for me, goal setting, especially in the fitness arena, has become pedestrian.  I've been lying to myself that the goals I have been setting are good ones.  We all fall into this, but it's easy to combat.

Here's how- 1.  Set a goal you are 100% sure you can achieve with very little challenge. 2.  Now change it so you are only 80% sure. 3.  Now change it so that there is a 50/50 chance. 4.  Now push it out to 30 % chance of completion- 5.  Take one last look, make sure it's WHY based 6.  You have your next goal. 7.  GO GET IT!!