Know Your Why

Having specific goals is critical to success, and making sure your goals are clear and actionable is an important part of this process. But once you’ve determined what your goals are, whether it’s losing 20 pounds, or putting on lean muscle, it’s important to tie them to a more intrinsic goal that will have a truly lasting effect on your life.

For example, even if you want to lose 20 pounds primarily for aesthetic reasons, a more intrinsic goal may be to lose weight so that you can decrease your chances of getting cancer, or other obesity-related diseases. Or if your goal is to put on lean muscle, recognizing that while getting beach bod ready is a great short-term goal, being able to use that foundational strength to stay fit and active well into your 80s and 90s is an even better long-term goal. That’s why it’s very crucial to know your why.

Understanding why you’re doing something is important, but being able to connect it to something deeper, and more meaningful to you, is paramount to success. Motivation plays a key role in our ability to achieve our goals, and while it may be high when we initially buy a gym membership or sign up for personal training, it quickly wanes after the initial excitement of committing to a goal dissipates, and the reality of the work it will require sets in.

That’s why it’s critical that we tie our goals to a greater purpose. It’s easy to have an extra glass or two of rosè if your goal is to lose a few pounds to fit into a little black dress, but it’s hard to do the same if your intrinsic goal is to be healthy enough to see your grandkids grow up. These deeper “why”s help hold us accountable and keep us motivated when our environment presents us with enticing opportunities that may not be aligned with these long-term goals.

So the next time you come up with a mainly ascetic health and wellness goal, try and connect it to something that’s deeply meaningful to you. It will help hold you accountable when your willpower starts to wane and help you get back on track if you stray from the path.

Thinking of all the ways a one-armed chin-up will help me play tennis well into my 90s,
John