How to achieve any goals in life!

Achieving any goals in your life is one of the topics I will teach at the upcoming Pradeepa Leadership Development School. The purpose of the school is to help you become a thriving leader and enable significant career growth and higher levels of income.

As the New Year kicks off, many people make resolutions to change their lives. As I was writing this article, I researched the data around New Year's resolutions. It was startling that only 9% of people followed their resolutions. The rest, a whopping 91%, give up almost around February. Strava, the health app, collected data from 800 million users and interestingly found that most people quit on their resolutions on January 19, and they called it "Quitter's day."

Why??

I'm sharing here where I would like to introduce you to the distinction between intention vs. commitment. As author & coach Karen Davis put it eloquently, intentions are initiatives you would like to create and follow in your life. Commitments are precise & measurable actions you are 100 percent going to do.?

To show this point, I would like to share a personal example. In January 2013, while working for an Agile consulting firm in Milwaukee, my team wrote a goal on a large whiteboard near us (personal or professional) that we each wanted to achieve that year. Mine was to do one proper pushup. A colleague attempted to coach me several times, but I have yet to progress. That goal sat on the whiteboard until we erased them all for a brainstorming activity.?

Fast forward to 2022, my coach Ankush Jain taught me the distinction between having an intention and committing to change. While reviewing my coaching notes, I suddenly remembered my 2013 goal about pushups. I realized I just intended to do the pushup but lacked action. I decided to move my intention to a commitment to achieve that goal.?

I have good self-awareness, and one thing I know about myself is the lack of physical strength(especially arms and core) that hindered my ability to do that one pushup. I immediately put a post on Facebook to look for a strength trainer. After a few conversations with several trainers, I found a woman willing to come to my home to train me. We fixed a day. On the day of the appointment, I got a message from her saying she won't be able to come to my home. Back to square 1. During my initial conversations, a trainer(Charlie) was willing to train me remotely. I preferred in-person, so we did not pursue it.?

I gave Charlie a call to pursue remote training. He came home to do an initial assessment & understood my needs. I shared my goal to do one proper pushup as part of this training. We decided to meet twice a week for 30 minutes. I started my strengths training on July 8, 2022. It was hard even to do standing pushups on my kitchen counter. I did not give up; I kept going. During the initial months, 30 minutes felt like forever. I was drenched with sweat and had to take multiple pauses. Slowly I started seeing progress. I moved to do knee pushups in mid-August and then onto the next level, where I was mimicking a full pushup mostly from above hips with knees on the floor. With gradually increased weight training, my arms started to get stronger. Now I can use my arm to go down without gravity taking over, falling on my stomach, and getting back up using my strength. I have improved my core strength to help me go down and come up. I had kept my commitment except for a few weeks I was on vacation outside the country. Since I started, I have completed 42 sessions, 30 minutes each.?

Can I do that one full pushup now? NOT YET! But I am on the right path, and with the help of my trainer Charlie and my commitment to my workout routines, I have no doubt I will achieve my goal and more this year.?

I even courageously showed my pushup in progress to a colleague during a video meeting.?

From Jan 2013 to July 2022, doing one proper pushup was just an intention. When I committed in July 2022, I took action and continue to take steps towards my goal of increasing my overall body strength - so that I can do that one pushup, run around more in our kitchen with my son Kartik, climb multiple stairs without panting, enjoy a variety of physical activities on vacation and overall feel stronger physically.?

This school is for you if you want to achieve any goal this year and need more action. Reach out, and let's have a conversation. There is ONLY ONE SPOT left.