Why Do Most People Fail To Achieve Their Goals?
As I’m writing this it is the start of a new year, a time where many people start to set goals and make resolutions to improve their lives. These goals often include weight loss, getting healthier and exercising more. I’m all for people trying to better themselves and if the new year gives you that extra push to take action then I’m here for it, but ask yourself what is your approach and how exactly are you going to achieve the goals you’ve set out?
Unfortunately most people struggle to achieve what they set out to do despite all their best intentions to do so, maybe you can relate to this? Perhaps you feel like you lack the willpower necessary to make these goals a reality and that you just need to try a bit harder and be a bit more strict with yourself in order to get where you want to be.
I can tell you now that that’s not the case! The reason you and many people struggle isn’t because you lack willpower or the fact that you ‘don’t want it enough’, which is a phrase I’ve heard many times and I can’t express to you how much I despise it. The reason you struggle is because you haven’t got a plan that is specific to you, your goals and your lifestyle.
Now let’s be honest for a second, you’ve probably lost weight before right? I’ve met so many people who have lost weight in the past and they claim that this specific diet they followed was great because of how much weight they lost. But if you gain all the weight back after the diet is over then surely that diet didn’t work? Losing weight is easy, maintaining it is the tricky part, and unfortunately people go back to those same diets that they lost weight on but failed to maintain it. This is because they lost weight on it before so it makes sense to try again, right? WRONG! Your diet didn’t work because it didn’t teach you anything about how to make long lasting changes to your lifestyle and eating habits. You probably just over restricted yourself from a certain food group and as soon as the diet was over you went back to what you were doing before.
The reason people don’t achieve their goals is because they don’t have a sustainable approach, they follow something for a few weeks and eventually get bored and give up because it’s not enjoyable and it’s not designed specifically for them, their preferences and their lifestyle.
Ask yourself this:
Is what I’m doing right now something that I can still be doing in 3,6,12 months time?
If the answer is ‘no’ then you should probably start looking at a different approach.
Are you going to give up takeaways forever? What about alcohol? Chocolate? Crisps? Sweets?
Probably not, right?
So why give them up for a month or even a week? If you’re going to go back to eating them anyway then there’s no real point in giving them up for any length of time, the weight you lose in that time is only going to be put back on again when you reintroduce them back into your diet.
It’s the easy option to just say no to things, to do dry Jan or give up on takeaways for a couple weeks. The hard option, and the one which you need, is to learn to
enjoy these things in moderation, that’s what will help you lose weight and keep it off forever.
You have to learn how to be able to go out and adjust your diet, you have to get better at cooking meals that you enjoy and make you feel good. These things may sound hard but being in a constant battle with your weight going up and down for years and years is much harder, I promise you.
Start by making a couple of small adjustments to your current diet, and keep building from there, the more effort you put in the more you’ll learn and the easier it’ll be to find an approach that fits you and your lifestyle. This is something that has worked really well for me and my clients in the past and it makes everything more enjoyable.
Another reason most people fail to achieve their goals is because they only have the end goal in their mind. They want the outcome so much that they forget to enjoy the process, they forget to do the things they need to do in order to achieve that goal. These things will often be challenging and that’s where we get the rewards from.
Anything worth having is going to come at a cost, and it’s not going to be easy. Sometimes you might have to miss a night out on the booze to have a home cooked meal and a movie instead. Sometimes you’ll decide to go for a walk even though it’s raining because you’ve been sitting down all day. You might have to get up earlier so that you can plan and prepare your lunch each day. Like I’ve said previously, these things are challenging but also very rewarding, especially when you start to see the changes.
If you’re able to find the right approach with your nutrition and exercise routine it’ll make the whole process so much easier. Do exercises that you enjoy and eat food that tastes great and makes you feel good. Prioritise getting a good night’s sleep as well as going out and enjoying yourself every once in a while.
You don’t need to be perfect!
You just need to be consistent!
So if you can’t make it to the gym one day, don’t worry about it, just go the day after.
If you overeat on a Friday night, move on, don’t let it ruin the rest of your weekend.
Life is there to be enjoyed and your goals shouldn’t get in the way of that. If you’re putting your life on hold in order to lose weight and feel more confident then you’ll be waiting forever because you need to be able to have balance if you want to be successful.
There’s no quick fixes. I know you know that, but still I see so many people get sucked in by what many fitness models and influencers are selling. If someone or something is promising you fast results then you need to ignore them, they’re telling you what you want to hear in order to get your money.
I’m not here to do that, by all means if you’d like to work with me then get in touch but if you think it’s going to be easy and you’re going to achieve all your goals in just a couple months then think again. It’s taken years of consistently making poor choices to get you to the position that you’re in now, it’s not all going to change in 4, 8, or even 12 weeks time, but you can learn the basics tools that will set you up for a lifetime.
So if you want to make that change then get in touch today and click the link below.
