What to Do When You Don't Reach Your Goals

"Most people are subjective toward themselves and objective toward all others, frightfully objective sometimes – but the task is precisely to be objective toward oneself and subjective toward all others." — Søren Kierkegaard

Last year I set a goal to workout an average of 20 times per month and I tracked my progress using a giant dry erase calendar on the wall in my office.

Did I hit my goal?

Nope. 👎

I ended the year with a total of 218 workouts which is an average of 18 per month.

In the past, I would have been pretty disappointed for not hitting my goal. I'd be embarrassed to admit that I didn't follow my plan "perfectly". And I definitely wouldn't freely share my "failure" in a such a public way.

But...that's the past.

Today, I am able to see this "failure" as an opportunity.

Because now, I have DATA.

I have always logged my workouts, but never to the extent of tallying the total for the year. And I've also never zoomed out to look at my workout habits from a bigger picture view.

I know that I am less likely to workout during the weekend than I am during the week. And I know that I love routine...so when my normal schedule gets interrupted (because of things like moving, or traveling or getting sick...), I drop the ball on some of my regular habits.

BUT, I never had objective data to really know the impact of those tendencies.

So, I could beat myself up for not hitting my goal...

OR I could get curious about why I didn't hit my goal so that I can brainstorm new strategies and systems to increase the likelihood of hitting my goal next time.

Which option do you think I went with? 😉

Below is a pic of the last 6 months of 2022 (I threw away the other half when we moved out of NYC. It didn't feel right to literally bring the past with me 😂).

Black X = workout, Red X = no workout (A very sophisticated system I came up with, right?)

As you can see, December was...awesome. 🙄 For the first two weeks we were visiting my husband's family in Colombia. Then I got sick. Then it was the holidays.

In July we did a lot of traveling, which often involved social events on Fridays and Saturdays.

And of all the days of the week, Saturdays appear to be my least preferred day to workout.

All of that is valuable information.

Now I know that if I want to hit that 20/month average, I need to:

1. Take into consideration that I most likely won't workout on Saturdays, while traveling or on holidays.

2. Create systems and habits that make it even easier for me to get my workouts in during the remainder of the year.

Notice that I'm NOT focusing on how I can "be more disciplined" with working out on Saturdays, while traveling, or on holidays...

👉 I AM focusing on how I can create more consistency with what's already working for me.

Because success leaves clues.

But...you won't see those clues if you aren't keeping track of your behaviors.

What are you tracking this month?