Never "There"

"A true warrior tightens his helmet after the battle."
                                                                  -Some ancient Samurai

Ok, not a direct quote, but still, I like the message. In the quest to get better, there is no holy grail. You never get to a point where you can say "I'm done." You might reach a target weight or run a marathon or climb mount Everest. Then what? Do you stop pursuing a goal? Do you stop striving to get better? I hope not.

I have encountered this phenomenon. I had a goal that took me five years to attain. During these five years, I gained 40 lbs (not in a bad way), went from zero pullups to twenty five, ran dozens of miles a week, swam almost six miles straight and developed a practice of positive self talk, mental rehearsal and vizualization. When I reached my goal I was surprised to find that I had a big gap in my life. My goal had been reached. I had checked that box. Now what? What would fuel my fire? I spent almost a year just maintaining myself without any real direction. I was finding it hard to replace my big goal.

The answer that I have found works for me is that you can always be better. Whether its at your job, in you health and fitness, as a parent or as a spouse, you can always find a way to improve. It won't always be a huge thing that you are working towards. Not every goal can be a lofty, five year mountain to climb. Small goals can be set by assessing yourself and seeing what you can improve. Here are a few things that I have written down for myself;

• Drink more water in the morning. I know this is not a concise goal but I found that I am bad about not hydrating until the afternoon. Then I don't want to drink lots of water before bed, so I end up dehydrated the next day. Not good.
• Talk to my family at least once a week. I live across the country from all of my family and only see them a few times a year so keeping in touch is essential.
• Limit soda to once a week. This one went from once a week to once a month and now I almost never drink soda. I still like it but I'm just in the habit of not drinking it.
• Cook more. This is a new goal. It seems to be easier, cheaper and healthier to cook meals at home. When I get lazy, I am bad about defaulting to takeout. I have not really felt this one out, but it seems like eating out once a week isn't crazy. Treat yo'self!

These are just a few little personal goals. Yours can be anything you feel needs improvement. This process of self critique and improvement can be difficult, especially if you are doing well. But everybody can get better.

I realize this post got a little sidetracked, but lets bring it full circle; don't let yourself get sucked into a terminal pattern of goal setting. You might acheive a goal but then regress when you have no goals to pursue. Instead, try and establish a constant loop of self examination, goal setting, execution and getting results.

Lets hear what goals ya'll are setting in the comments section.

Jack