Trampoline Goals

"Damn! I gotta lose weight"

"F**k! I need to get my financial s**t in order"

"Wow! Am I out of shape"

These statements are typically spawned from a negative place - like looking in the mirror or checking your bank account balance and not liking what you see.

The sentiments behind the statements are usually followed by goals being set - "I am not going to eat another pizza!" or "I will starting losing weight tomorrow!". While being shamed or guilt-ridden can be powerful motivators to spur us to set goals, if goals are set from a negative state of mind they will bring along those negative feelings every time the goals are reviewed.

Every time you put action towards a goal the brain remembers the shame or guilt that spurred the goal in the first place. This dampens the mood of the action you are attempting and ultimately sabotages progress.

Lets say your pants stopped fitting the way they used to (blame it on the pants...). After feeling upset that we cannot wear our favorite pants, we transition to mentally bullying ourselves for being such a (fill in your derogatory term).

We then declare we will reduce our waistline by watching our plate portion size. While that can be a good strategy, we do typically eat multiple times every day. Every time we serve our plate we then try to remind ourselves of the goal.

But then that becomes our 'Why'. Every time we adjust our plate portion size we are reminded of the anger, sadness, and guilt that is attached to the goal.

A powerful life hack is to set our goals from a positive state. When we have crushed a previous goal, done better at something than we have done before, are proud of ourselves for something or just when we feel happy - this is when goal setting gets a magical tint to it.

It is like the difference between jumping up from a kneeling position (hard) or getting a running start and using a trampoline to jump (almost effortless).

Goals set in our peak or flow state imbue that same energy into every action that supports the goal.

Every time we reflect on our goal or progress towards it we will be reminded of the 'why' and how we felt when we set the goal.

How can "pants person" use this?

The first step (after realizing we cannot fit into their favorite pants) could be to set simple reactions to the negative emotions we KNOW we can achieve. Deep down inside we all have ideas about things we KNOW we should change.

Drink more water. Get an achievable amount of steps every day. Skip the extra pre-bedtime snack. Small achievable steps but not tied to a specific goal of X millimeters of waste size. Every time we are reminded of them, we are reminded of that they are good for us.

Once those small steps become habits, small change starts to happen. Wait for it - the situation will present itself. It could be a compliment, pants start to 'almost' fit again or we begin to feel proud of our first small steps. That is when we can start setting specific goals.

Setting our goals from a position of strength, happiness or (good) pride is insurance against quitting when things get tough.