You have probably been told many times to; remember your why, know your why, and find your why…. but why does it sometimes seem like this isn’t enough and sabotage, lack of follow through, or resistance to taking action towards your goal comes into play still?

As a national certified counselor, best-selling self-help author, and competitor, I not only understand how important it is to have specific goals and objectives to work towards but also the demands of being a physique sport athlete. To support you, I am going to breakdown part of the process I use with my clients that I truly believe will help you.

HAVE A CLEAR VISION

What do you want your end result to be? In an ideal world, how would you feel when you achieve this result? Knowing your goal is going to help you to establish specific objectives for the goal. We cannot hit a target that we can’t see right? So, know your desired result first!

Whether that is to win a competition, earn a title, establish yourself in the community, build more muscle, or get more conditioned than your last show; write down the end goal in detail.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

With your vision clear, we can now set specific action steps to support you in bringing this to life. The key here is to be very considerate of where you are at. Many people will make the mistake of comparing where they are to someone else and setting expectations for themselves based on the actions of someone else who has gotten where they want to be. You need to be honest about where you are and what is realistic enough to commit to but not so challenging that you end up letting yourself down and creating a failure loop mentality.

For example, you might know that you need to be practicing your posing more often, but right now, you don’t practice at all. It would be unfair to expect yourself to start practicing every day, especially if you have tried to do this but keep failing. Your first objective might need to be to practice posing 3x per week. This capitalizes on the stage of change you are in, action, without being overwhelming. If for some reason, you find it difficult to follow through on your objectives, reevaluate the stage of change you are in and create a more considerate objective. For example, if you realize you cannot commit to the action then maybe you are still in your preparation phase so the next best objective is to look at your agenda and see where posing could fit or track your time spent in the day to identify where it might be able to fit in.

SET UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Making your objectives convenient is very important. If you expect yourself to start practicing your posing 3x per week but you don’t have heels, a posing suit, or even a space to practice it is not going to be done and you will instead continue doubting yourself. Using the same example, you can create a posing space in your living quarters, put a ring light tripod and your heels there, a cute sign that reminds you of how important it is to practice, and purchase a cute new posing suit to inspire you to want to practice posing. It can also help to have an alarm set on your phone to go off as a reminder or a normal day to day habit like brushing your teeth or making your bed that you stack this with. If you need to get super creative, put the heels on top of your toilet every night before bed so when you wake up to use the restroom you must move your heels before you can use the restroom and then you will be more likely to remember you need to do this and start your practice.

KNOW YOUR CORE VALUES

Your why can get you far, but your values will take you further. Many people experience a change in their ‘why’ over the course of their journey, but it is not often that someone’s core values change in their life other than in a big life change or revelation of some sort. To identify your core values, think about what drives you day in and day out to get up and out of bed…maybe it is

Whatever is truest to your soul and making life most meaningful is what needs to be considered here. Then, every single goal and objective you set needs to be connected to these values otherwise the resistance will be high. When you think that the goal you are trying to achieve is going to impede on a value of yours, you will be less likely to show up for it. So, we need to ask, ‘How does working towards or achieving my goal of ____ support me in satisfying my value of___’.

If for some reason, you find something that doesn’t align you can either modify your expectations and execution or reevaluate the goal. And when we find that it does in fact align, it is full steam ahead because when you think, ‘What happens if I DON’T show up for my goals?!’ The thing that gets sacrificed are your core values! This will not be okay with you on an intrinsic level so you will be MORE likely to show up and do what you need to do to get where you need to go. This is how we make your goals feel like non-negotiables.

Process over Product

While consistency in your commitments is very important, you still need to be willing to adapt. If you do not stay mindful and present in the pursuit of your goals, you will miss opportunities to improve, challenge yourself further, or even protect yourself from something negative happening. Being mindful and avoiding autopilot is very important not just for staying on point with your commitments but also for creating lasting results. The more present you are in your process and the less you fixate on the result, the more likely you will be to repeat the positive behaviors leading you to achieving your goals. If you go on autopilot mode you might fixate too much on outcomes which are not as satisfying to us as humans. We thrive when we strive so the more active you can be in the process, the better! This is the part that is building you into a champion! You are going to want to remember this and soak in every moment.

If you experience a lapse in your desire, motivation, or willingness to execute, reflect on your vision, review your objectives, enhance your environment, connect to your core values, and get present in this process. Make sure these are in check or make adjustments before counting yourself out.

Share your process with us as you execute on these principles! Tag @celestial_fit and @toxicangelzbikinis on social media. For more support with the mental demands of competing in any and every season, visit: Celeste's website.