3 Simple Strategies to Become the Ultimate Goal Achiever
Why do we always seem to give up when changing our habits or anything in our lives?
Well, it’s because we all experience an emotional roller coaster when we decide to make a change in our lives!
This chart below is taken from the book “The 12 week year”. It shows the emotional cycle that we all go through during a change.
Here is a breakdown of the levels:
1. Uninformed optimism: where we imagine all the benefits of the change, but don’t think about the cost (busting out of our comfort zone).
2. Informed pessimism: the benefits are starting to be outweighed by the costs - the uncomfortable feelings one must go through to achieve the benefits. They benefits don’t seem as immediate or as important as they once did.
3. Valley of despair: This is when most people give up. All of the pain of change is felt but minimal benefit is seen. The quickest way to end the discomfort is to go back to your comfort zone. You rationalize to yourself that the “old way” wasn’t as bad as you thought.
4. Informed optimism: The benefits of your actions are starting to come to fruition. Your discomfort is lessened, and becoming more of a routine (which is something we all thrive on).
So how do you keep your fire going through the first 3 steps and become a goal achiever?
When setting goals, It’s important to have a BIG WHY! I’ve found that a goal based on a NEED to avoid pain (emotional, physical, etc.) in some way, is much more powerful for goal achievement than just going for pleasure.
Just having the knowledge and understanding of this above chart helps you push through the discomfort of change.
I highly recommend reading this book for those that want to understand this process more, to be more productive, and finally start achieving goals! The 12 Week Year