Aim low enough

Have there been times when you have set a goal and didn’t achieve it? Maybe it was unrealistic. Maybe it wasn’t specific enough. The feeling of not achieving the goal maybe didn’t sit nicely with you? Either way, things didn’t turn out as planned.

Setting a high goal does have its strengths – it acts as something to aim at - despite achieving it or not. However, having the humility to set what seem like pointlessly low goals, can be the secret to achieving lasting behaviour change. Maybe you want to exercise 3 times per week? Break it down further, and set a goal such as ‘Get out my exercise clothes’. But your room is messy? Break it down further, ‘Keep my room clean’. But you’ve tried to keep your room clean and have struggled in the past. Implement a tactic we’ve spoken about before, from Clear’s Atomic Habits, habit-stacking; ‘When I do A….I will do B’.

‘When I take off my shoes and jumper….I will put them away’. Saying it aloud to yourself can help too. Before long, you don’t have dirty clothes on the floor, and reaching for your exercise clothes becomes easier. Maintain the goal of ‘When I take off my shoes and jumper, I will put them away’. This has nothing to do with exercising three times a week, and may seem like a trivial goal, but before long your room is clean. A clean room means things are easy to get to. This means your exercise clothes are easy to reach. When somethings easy to do, you’re more likely to do it….and all of a sudden you’re going in the right direction.