It’s Thanksgiving 2019. Every Thanksgiving at Prototype, we honor Michael Murphy by completing “Murph”. The workout starts with a 1-mile run, followed by 100 Pull-ups, 200 Push-ups, 300 Air Squats, and another 1-mile run . 

My feet are still hurting from completing our Veterans Day 24 heroes in 24 hours workout (where I did a Hero WOD every hour for 24 hours). I decided this year I’m going to row 2000m instead of the 1-mile run. I look at my previous times (I’ve never done this workout with a row before) and I start to set a target time I want to complete it in. 

“Ok, 35 minutes, you can do this!” I thought to myself. The workout begins, everything is still feeling beat up from the 24 heroes workouts. I’m 20 minutes in and I think to myself “Mike, 35 minutes isn’t happening. New goal… 40 minutes”. I finished at 40:16. I wasn’t disappointed or upset, I was actually thrilled! I didn’t hurt more than when I began and I actually felt better after I finished than when I started.

Did I hit my goal? No.

Did my goal change? Yes.

Is that ok? 100%.

Every day you should have a goal(s), not just in every workout you tackle. If there is one thing that the most successful people in the world have in common (beyond wealth or fame) is that they set goals for themselves on a daily basis.

As Tony Robbins said “setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible”.

The short story I shared with you above has nothing to do with accomplishing a goal. No one ever accomplishes every goal they set out right away, that’s unrealistic. That is why failure is so important. Failure allows us to learn, reestablish a plan, and progress to get there.

The story above is about a mindset. 

One of my biggest beliefs is if you’re going to do something, you need to set an expectation for yourself to be held accountable. That expectation can be in the form of a goal or it can be a milestone that sets up your next milestone or long-term goal. Is it ok if your goals change? Yes. Is it important that you reassess and set a new standard for yourself? Absolutely.

As Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. The moral of this blog post: Plans change. Goals change. Move on, reassess and reestablish. The key, REESTABLISH.

A lot of people are afraid to set goals because they fear failing. If this is how you feel, think about this quote 

I want to share with you 3 actionable things you can do that can help you move the needle forward to achieving the things you want to do. I talk a little bit about them above, but in more depth below:

At the beginning of every week, I create a list of the Top 5 things I want to accomplish by the end of the week. I learned from Cameron Herold that creating a Top 5 list helps create focus and holds you accountable for getting those things done. Imagine if you got 5 BIG THINGS DONE every week? That’s roughly 260 things you’ve completed in a year. Crazy when you think about that productivity hack!

Task: Create a list of the Top 5 things you want to achieve every Sunday night or Monday morning to set up your week.

I’ve written about what the Minimum Effective Dose (MED) is in the past but it’s essentially the smallest dose that will produce the desired outcome. 

As it relates to setting goals, traction AND action are two of the biggest components to getting started. As John Wooden said, “the most important key to achieving success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action and move”.

Action means starting. Traction is the momentum that is created from taking action. When it comes to being successful with any goal, we need momentum to carry us. So when things happen outside our control (pandemic, quarantine, your kid is sick, a giant tree limb falls on your car…) we need to have something that will keep our mind moving us forward. 

So every day you should have a minimum effective dose.  This needs to be something you absolutely need to get done to feel like you’ve been productive. That could be getting a workout in or writing a blog post. At the end of the day, regardless of how your day went, if you got this one thing done, you can at least lean on that success. I did this with my goal of taking a cold shower every day at the beginning of the year. Read about it here!

Task: Establish your bottom line so you keep the momentum going on your mindset.

When we need focus and want to be successful we need a routine.  Whatever it is, you need to have one. When it comes to goal achievement, randomness and a lack of a plan isn’t the proven track that so many others have taken. I’ve talked about the book The Morning Miracle and how having a system or routine in the morning can put you on the absolute best path to success. I even created a template that you can follow (See image below). So why is a morning routine so important? Why does everyone talk about this?  Below are a few things this will do for you:

What if you’re not a morning person or you’re not disciplined? Well as Jim Rohn said, “Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.” At the end of the day, creating a morning routine is about discipline. It doesn’t mean you need to be up at 4 AM or even 5 AM, but it’s a routine that sets the stage for the production you’re going to have for the rest of your day.

Task: Utilize the Morning SAVERS to create a 30-minute routine to begin your morning.

Need help getting motivated? Here are some hacks to help you!

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