The #1 Goal Killer - and how to avoid it

Riding a high of bulletproof motivation, you wrote a list of the most-incredible goals you could think of for 2024. They're not just goals, though. They're more like your new standards, and they're uncompromisable. You're going to wake up at 4 AM, hit the gym, and complete an intense decathlon of micro-habits to reach your peak performance. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. In just a few weeks following this perfect plan, you'll reach the pinnacle of human potential.

There’s something magical about being 100% consistent. Whether it's eating clean, working out, or reading every single day, we love the idea of a perfect streak. It's great to set ambitious goals and maintain high standards, however, the temptation is to fall into all or nothing thinking. That’s a big problem.?

What's more important than perfection, however, is how we respond to failure. As Rocky said, it ain't about how hard you hit.?(or how “perfect” you are), It's about how hard you can get hit (miss a day) and keep moving forward.

The moment you break your streak is not the time to throw in the towel and say, "maybe next year." It's not the time to erase all of the progress you made up to that point. Nobody wants to think they're a quitter, but that's exactly what quitting is. It's finding an excuse to stop fighting. You might say you need to "re-evaluate" your plan or "refocus" so you can start again next week, but you're just negotiating to expand your failure.

So what do you do when you sleep in, or miss the gym, or forget to take your vitamins, and break your streak?

You get back on the horse right away.

One of the most-reliable indicators of your long-term success is how quickly you get back on the horse. If you broke your diet 10 times in January - but you got back on track within an hour each time - you'd be exponentially closer to your goals than the person that binge eats for a week every time they make a mistake.

So how do we measure our goals if we don't measure our streaks?

Measure your win rate instead. That might look something like this:

January Win Rate = (Days you stuck to the plan) / 31

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Ate something your weren't supposed to 4 days in January?

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That's 27/31 for an 87% win rate.

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Not bad! You will definitely see results soon if you maintain that type of win rate.

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Doesn't that feel better than constantly resetting your streak to a depressing 0?

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Then you can start February knowing A. That you're capable of maintaining an 87% win rate and B. that you can improve to 90% (26/29 for leap year!) by just cutting out one miss day. Now you have some real momentum.

The other reason I measure my goals this way is because it takes every day into account. There's no question of when you're on the clock and when you're not, and you can lose a lot of ground when you’re “off” a diet after being “on” a diet.

Even maintaining an 80% win rate all year is far better than getting a perfect 200-day streak and then waiting until January 1st 2025 to try again. In fact, it's a whopping 46% better win rate.

Interestingly, occasional failures are not as catastrophic as we make them out to be, especially when we make progress most days. As this graph shows us, we can achieve a 3,100%+ improvement if we improve 1% each day while a 1% decrease every day has a less-dramatic curve line. Long-story short, an 80% win rate will definitely add up over time. Perhaps 1% improvement per week is more sustainable, but you get the idea.

I track my win rate over time using a simple excel table like this:

However you track your goals, make sure that you’re not giving into all-or-nothing thinking. It’s great when you’re on a high, but we have to be ready to overcome setbacks and failures, too.

2024 IS FINALLY HERE, AND THE MERE IDEA OF KICKSTARTING A NEW YEAR GETS YOUR BLOOD PUMPING. THIS IS GOING TO BE YOUR YEAR.

You know exactly what you want, and you're not going to stop until you get there.

BUT ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU SAID LAST YEAR?

Somehow, 2023 flew by and now you're right back where you started 12 months ago. Maybe even farther from where you truly want to be.

Whatever you do, you have to make sure that you don’t waste another year because there’s nothing worse than that sickening feeling of regret.

You know deep down that you’re capable of doing more than you’ve ever done before. you have greatness in you, but you haven’t been living up to your potential.

IF WE WANT BETTER RESULTS, WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING WE’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE.

The biggest mistake people make is trying to do too much on their own. Change is hard, and it’s almost impossible to develop new habits without people to help us.

THAT’S WHY WE CREATED THE ELEVATE COMMUNITY.

It’s a group of incredible people who are 100% committed to reaching their goals this year.

It begins with an intensive 6-week program to snap you into alignment with your goals. The first few weeks are always the hardest, so we'll be with you every single step of the way. We'll begin by clarifying your goals, locking your strategies in, and deciding how to measure your progress.

Then we conquer our weaknesses and our goals day in and day out until success is second-nature.

THE ELEVATE COMMUNITY INCLUDES:

• Weekly group calls with me and world-class experts to keep you focused and reinforce your progress.
• Membership in a small team of 8 business leaders and entrepreneurs like you for day-to-day support.
• Goal progress tracking and accountability with our coaching team.
• Exclusive access to the members-only site with life-changing insights.
• Exclusive discounts on all retreats and events.
• And more!

LIMITED-TIME BONUS:

IF YOU JOIN NOW, YOU’LL ALSO RECEIVE A ONE-ON-ONE STRATEGY CALL WITH ME AT NO ADDITIONAL COST ($500 VALUE) TO ENSURE YOU’RE CLEAR ON YOUR GOALS AND YOUR ACTION PLAN FOR 2024.

Go to https://www.joncobbcoaching.com/elevate to learn more and join this incredible community to unlock your potential in 2024!