Lifestyle
Focus on progress to reach your goal

By Brian Foley from Activate Fitness
We recently posted some amazing transformations on our social media pages.
It's not something we do much of, even though amazing transformations are happening all the time at Activate. There's a good reason we don't post them all the time, as they only tell a very tiny part of the story.
Here's the thing; seeing a transformation photo is impressive, it's motivating, and it's a testament to the client's hard work. But between a 'before' and 'after' photo, there are a period of days, weeks, months, and years of effort, consistency, frustration, failures, successes, and hardships that you don't see.
It's the boring stuff that won't sell magazines, diet books, or coaching programmes. It's the unsexy stuff - the day to day grind type stuff.
But it matters.
And that's where progress happens – in that unsexy, boring gap.
It's saying no to an extra bowl of dessert. It's going to the gym even when you don't feel like going. It's reminding yourself daily of your goals and why you're making this change even when progress seems slow, and motivation has quietly slipped out the door.
I'm reminded of a quote from Tucker Max that eloquently sums this up:
"Let's say you want to win this archery trophy. That trophy is the most important thing to you. So how do you get it? You have to be good at archery first in order to hit the bullseye and ultimately get the trophy, right? And how do you get good at archery? By focusing on archery, not on the trophy.
That's the paradox; you're so focused on the outcome that you never learn to enjoy the process, which ultimately sets you up for failure. But if you focus on archery (the process), you're more likely to hit the target and win the trophy.
THE PROCESS
Focus on the process, and you'll reach your goal. Focus on the goal, and you'll compromise the learning process and ultimately come up short. Whether you win the trophy or not is irrelevant — the process is what matters."
Meaning: Don't focus on the result instead, focus on the process that will move you towards becoming that person.
And that's the paradox of goals: You can't achieve the end goal without first becoming the person who's capable of reaching the end goal.
If you only ever focus on the outcome, you'll forever be disappointed and discouraged - no amount of progress will ever be good enough. Who cares if you've lost 5kgs, have more energy, and your clothes fit better? You really want to lose 20kgs, and nothing else matters.
Instead of the before and after, focus on the gap between those two points - the day to day process. Put in the work, no matter how small. You do those things for a year - and that's how results happen.
The proper guidance takes you from where you are right now to where you want to be in the most efficient manner possible. It shows you precisely what you need to do (and not do) to achieve your goal.
If you are looking for guidance, we have a limited number of spaces available currently at Activate. Visit our website (www.activate.ie) to book a complimentary consult today.
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