Goals and Bullshit

{ August 26, 2010 @ 6:00 am } · { Uncategorized }

Get ready, because I’m about rain on somebody’s parade.

I hear a lot of bullshit goals. “I have a goal to run a marathon.” “I’m gonna look good by Summer.” “One day, I plan on backpacking across Europe.” These bullshit ambitions usually follow someone else’s story of a goal already met.

Let’s take my long-term goal of deadlifting 400 pounds, a warm-up weight for other intermediate CrossFitters. The first question is, What am I doing to improve my deadlift? Because wishing for one hasn’t worked in the past (Trust me, I’ve tried.), I have to put in work.  I can tell you that I’m sticking with a 5-3-1 Wendler program, giving everything on the final set, I’m eating very clean, consume mass quantities of water, started doing mobility work, and put to use that cylindric piece of foam that’s been taunting me for months.  My short-term goal is to get 375 by end of 2010.

The difference between a goal and bullshit is the pursuit for it.  If your goal is long-term, you need to set short-term goals with reasonable dates.  Between now and your short-term goals, work needs to be done.  This shit ain’t gonna fall in your lap.  If your goal is meaningful, you’ll do everything to meet it–including failure of meeting short-term goals.  Sacrifices will have to be made.  Pain, embarrassment or discomfort will become your friend, seeing you toward your long-term ambition.

You can continue to declare that “Today is the day I …”, but until you lace up and get to work, you aren’t a goal-setter. You’re a bullshitter.  Don’t be a bullshitter.