Start CHEATing: Your New & Improved Goal Framework

Welcome back to the Daily Dumbbell, where we have more creative and mildly confusing sayings than your uncle at Thanksgiving.

“If you don’t know what port you’re sailing to, how do you know what wind is favorable?”

Spot on Uncle Buck. Today we’re talking about goals and making sure we’re setting the right ones.

Let’s dive in!

Goals

Goal Setting: If You're Not CHEATing, You're Not Trying

Alright, fitness fans, let's have a little heart-to-heart about goals.

In the health and fitness world, we've been brainwashed, by SMART goals. For years, they've been the gold standard in our quest to achieve that sculpted beach body or get back in our high school jeans. But here's the truth: SMART goals can be a bit...dumb.

Picture this: You set out on a quest to drop a cool 30 lbs this year. You fight, sweat, and avoid the siren call of Ben & Jerry's for months. But when you step on the scales, you've only dropped 20 lbs. What a failure, right?

Wrong!

The issue here is not your efforts. No, the villain of the piece is the goal you set. Which brings us to an epiphany, a system that is truly a game-changer. A paradigm shifting...well, you get it.

A wise man once said: “If you’re not cheating you’re not trying”

So today we’re teaching you how to CHEAT. A framework so good it’ll feel like illegal.

C: Celebrate Wins 

Here's the secret: every pound shed, every extra rep, and every good decision is a win. So celebrate them.

You've dropped 10 lbs? Fuck yes queen! Slay! Who cares if your goal is 30? Pop the champagne. We are not waiting until the end of the journey to celebrate. We’re celebrating effort along the way. Wait, sorry that comes later.

By recognizing the small wins, we give ourselves the motivation to keep pushing, to keep fighting, to keep progressing.

H: Habit-Focused 

To change your body, you must first change your habits. This is our biggest beef with SMART goals. It encourages weight based goals. i.e. “Lose 30 lbs in 3 months.”

That is a bad goal. Not only is that not realistic, it is outcome based instead of Habit based. Getting 10k steps 5x/week is a good goal. That is something you can do every day. It is a single choice! You can’t decide to lose weight today. That requires other actions.

Instead of setting a goal to lose weight, set a goal to walk every day or to eat a healthy breakfast. The magic of habit-focused goals? They lead to weight loss (or muscle gain, or marathon running) naturally.

E: Effort-Based 

Reason number 2 for habit based goals. We don’t want to reward you for starving yourself. You may have lost 30lbs, but if you did it a stupid way you’re going to gain it all back.

But because you received positive feedback for the outcome, you’re going to think you did things right and then failed later. Not on our watch! This is why we focus on the process.

Goals should be about effort, not outcome. Instead of aiming to lose 30 lbs, aim to put in the hours at the gym or the miles on the pavement. The results will follow, but the focus is on the hustle, not the result.

A: Achievable & Realistic 

Aiming to look like The Rock after a month at the gym? Not so realistic. (TBH that isn’t realistic after a year or 10 at the gym).

Neither is trying to lose 30lbs in 3 months. Aim to lose no more than 1-2 lbs per week.

• Have over 50lbs to lose? You might lose 2lbs a week at first.

• Only have 10 you want to shut? That’s going to be considerably slower.

Just as we discussed yesterday, don’t try to do a fitness 180. People love the quote: “Aim for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.”

First off, the closest star is 24 Trillion miles from the moon. You’re taking advice from someone who sucks at math and spatial awareness.

Second, most spaceships that miss their target explode. They land in the ocean in a million pieces. Don’t do that. Don’t aim for the moon. Aim for a basketball rim.

That's achievable. Small, achievable goals add up, and they're a lot less fatal daunting.

T: Track Progress 

This is the part where you become a scientist of your own body. Keep a record of the things you're doing right and what's not working out. Adjust as you go. The scales may not always reflect your efforts, but your progress tracker will!

The scale may be the easiest thing to measure. But don’t mistake an easy metric for a good one.

• How you feel

• How you look

• How your favorite jeans fit

All better markers than the number on the scale.

So, folks, let's stop trying to be SMART and start CHEATing (responsibly, of course). Because in the race to fitness, the only person you're cheating is your past self, and let's be honest, that guy had a little too much love for late-night tacos and Netflix binges.

Remember, the road is a journey, not a destination. So CHEAT a little, and you'll find that you're not just reaching your goals, you're crushing them. And most importantly, you're enjoying the ride.

Thats Not Great Thursday:

Scientific literacy is at an all time low. Especially among some members of the media. 

In Vitro studies are mostly useless to us. Because we are not test tubes. We are In Vivo. In vivo Las Vegas baby!

We’ll take a deeper dive next week into why this is and why it matters. For now, you can rest easy knowing that you’re safe to have a diet coke from time to time.

We hope you learned something from the goal setting piece! Have a fantastic Thursday and don’t forget to stop by tomorrow morning for Friday Finds and another quote from our Queen; Jane Fonda.