SS 213 – 5 Keys to Achieving Your Goals in 2019

Episode 213 Show Notes

For the first time in Strength and Scotch history, Heavey is flying solo. You’re probably coming up with some resolutions for this year (many or some of which may be fitness-related). About 50% of people decide to embark on a fitness/weight loss type of resolution each year, and by the time the year is up, only 10% are likely to stick to their resolution.

Today, Heavey shares the top 5 things you can do to stick with your resolutions this year:

[01:41] #1: Don’t Be Too Ambitious

Why many people screw up all the time is they try to do an approach that is extreme, relative to what they’ve been doing. You can’t go from eating shitty to being Whole30 compliant for three months. You won’t be able to maintain this. While you may be able to maintain something extreeme for a short period of time, this is not going to do you much good long-term.

Instead of taking this extreme approach, try to focus less on massive changes. Instead, focus on smaller changes and build momentum over the year.

For instance, you’re looking to do the Whole30. What steps can you take to do to be Whole30 compliant at the end of the year? Break down what you need to do this January. Once you’ve proven to yourself you can accomplish this in January, then move onto the next step and build momentum over the year. Heavey guarantees that being able to do this, you’d be much better off when 2020 rolls around than you would if you would have just dieted your face off for January.

[03:12] #2: Don’t Fall for Gimmicks

As humans, we can be so attracted to look for shortcuts that we’re just setting ourselves up to fail. Science shows that fat loss supplements and cleanses don’t do anything for your fat loss.

Additionally, former power athlete John Welbourn created the concept of “don’t fall prey to the secret squirrel club” which happens very frequently with diet. You try an approach for one month and then you see some “other shiny object” diet and then you hear about another thing the next month, and then you just bounce from diet to diet. This is a recipe for failure.

[04:28] #3: Don’t Try to Go At It Alone

Heavey sees it in a lot of his nutritional clients who struggle the most because the people around them aren’t supporting them. If you’re trying to lose weight, this may not be the best thing. Instead, find the people closest to you and those you spend the most time with and then ask them for support. Don’t just tell them about your goal, but ask them for their support. If they care for you and love you, then they will fully get onboard with that. If they’re taking actions that are counter to your objective then let them know. Otherwise, find other people that have similar goals as you.

Oftentimes, people say they don’t have the motivation to stick with their goal over time. This could be because of their environment. In this case, change the environment. If your friends hang out by having drinks on a Saturday night, try to mix it up a bit and play Ultimate Frisbee with them on Sunday. This way, you’re still getting time with them but you’re doing it in a way supportive of what you’re trying to accomplish. Skip out on the bar for a while.
Ultimately, surround yourself with other people that are active and have similar objectives as you. This way, you will find some of the support you need to accomplish what you’re setting out to do.

[06:50] #4: Take Ownership of the Things You Can Control and Focus Less on the Things Out of Your Control

Let’s use fat loss as an example. We know that our body weight fluctuates a lot throughout the day. You could weigh yourself throughout the day and see multiple pounds of fluctuation. Your body weight depends on water retention, which also depends on salt intake, hormonal fluctuations, carb intake, amount of body waste, etc. So there are a lot of factors that have nothing to do with fat that shows up on the scale. So by just focusing on the scale, if you’re interested in fat loss, is a bad idea. Instead, focus on things you have control over, which can move the needle for fat loss. Then build a system around these things.

For instance, build a system around sleep where, say, you sleep a half hour more than you’ve been sleeping per night. Then move on to nutrition, say, have 2 cups of fibrous vegetables in your every meal. See, these are things you can control. Ultimately, if you focus on these things that you can control that affect fat loss, then you still lose fat but you won’t get all caught up and upset because the scale isn’t moving, which is not under your control.

Build a system around your resolution based on the five pillars of health – sleep, stress management, exercise, nutrition, and physical connection. Heavey recommends the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, to help you build your systems around your goals.

[09:57] #5: Reflect on Whether or Not This Resolution is Something You Actually Want to Accomplish

It’s common for us to see what other people have but in our core, we really don’t want it, especially when we learn how much work is involved. Wanting a six-pack, for example, is a very difficult thing to accomplish and maintain. Most of us don’t care enough to spend the time and effort required to maintain that. Know what it is that you really want and how much you’re willing to work to accomplish that.

In short, understand your “why” for the resolution. If you’re looking to lose fat and your “why” is because you’ve got kids and you want to be around for them, that’s a perfect reason. But if you want to achieve a six-pack just because you think it’s cool, that’s probably not going to hold up when you can’t go out with friends and you have to eat like a rabbit.

There needs to be alignment between what you’re trying to accomplish and things that are extremely important to you in your life.

[11:50] Focus on the Five!

Focus on these five things and review them relative to the resolutions you’ve created this year and you’d be much better off and have a much higher chance of succeeding with what you’ve set out to accomplish. When 2020 rolls around, you’ll be able to create new resolutions that build on what you’ve accomplished in 2019.

Links:
Atomic Habits by James Clear