Presidential election photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com
What I am about to tell you goes against everything you have been led to believe about how to set goals and accomplish them.
It is the secret formula of behavioral science.
Joe Biden never decided to become President of the United States and visit Jerusalem.
Of the many thousands of politicians who wanted to become President, only an infinitesimally small number ever reached that goal, and Joe Biden achieved it not because he is more talented or offers a greater vision than they.
He could never have controlled all of the variables which decide who becomes president. He only controlled one factor, showing up and putting in the tireless work of campaigning and networking.
Through day after day, year after year, from the heights of victory down to the depths of failure and the agony of defeat, he kept showing up and putting in the work.
Ask anybody who accomplished anything truly legendary, and they will tell you. Fixating on an outcome is a fool’s errand which inevitably leads to failure and depression. The only thing you control is your behavior.
I can’t tell you how many people come to me and say “Josh, I need to lose 10 kg”.
That’s a nice number, but here’s the brutal truth. You have no control over whether or not you are going to lose 10 kg, or win the super bowl, or become president. You might become sick, or there could be a war or an earthquake, or anything else could happen which could change things dramatically.
For success, you must roll up your sleeves and take ACTIONS.
Not the big loud actions which you see on Instagram, but the little regular habits that make all the difference in the long term.
Like waking up 15 min early to prepare breakfast. Showing up to CrossFit 3 times per week. Walking to the grocery store instead of driving.
If repeated, these small regular actions become habits, and they are the recipe for greatness.
Does this mean you shouldn’t have goals? Of course not! Goals are the things that give us optimism and motivate us in the first place. But they must include real world action, (such as booking your No-Sweat Intro or signing up for the On-Ramp Course at CrossFit Jerusalem), or else they will forever remain something that will happen in the future, leading to frustration and a sense of defeat.
Example: I am training for a marathon. I have no control over whether I will actually finish the race. I could become sick or injured, there could be a storm and the race will be canceled. There are a million things that could happen that would prevent me from achieving this. The only thing I control are my actions. In this case, setting my alarm for oh dark thirty every Saturday morning and going for a long run, a generally miserable experience.
You CAN actually accomplish anything, by just doing the little things that are in your control, even when you don’t want to. Eventually they will become effortless habits, your confidence will grow, and the effects will compound to give you ever greater results.
So go lose those 10 kg, or become president or whatever your goal is, not by fixating on the outcome (which is not in your control anyway), but on the actions that are in your power to do right now!
Book your free No-sweat Intro with me today. It’s just a 20 minute conversation about your goals and the actions that can help you get closer to them.