I spend a good amount of my time talking to my clients about goals and failures. It amazes me how many people don't even have a goal and out of those that do, most couldn't tell you why they are important to them. Most have set their goals according to what society feeds them. I've found that one of the most effective tools to achieving your goal is to make sure that you find ones that are intrinsic. These are goals that are important to you because you are passionate about them on your own. The ones you make simply because the outside world views them as important almost never satiate you and even when achieved they bring minimal joy that is fleeting at best.
I know I sound like a hippie. Let me explain. I'm not saying that your goal can't be to become CEO of a huge company, I'm just saying that if you only work on that goal because of the achievement/joy you think you will feel when it is completed then you will most likely be let down even if it happens. So how do you find these goals? You need to find enjoyment in the act of working towards that goal. You need to think about the things that are most important to you in the world and build your goals around them.
That brings me to the point. I spend all this time helping people figure out what their real goals are and I've given no real thought into it myself. The start of this blog was to reach a goal. That goal was truly intrinsic in that I enjoyed every second of it, I didn't have anything to prove to anyone and I was doing it anyways. When I achieved this, I felt a great sense of accomplishment but then I needed a new goal. Well because of my field and the perfect situation I was in, I thought "Hey, I need to make a run for regionals" I used the word "need". Conditions were perfect. I had the strength to compete at that level and I knew I had the other tools needed. I just needed to polish my weak links. I got a great coach, and headed down that path without even really thinking about it. It was more just moving on to the next thing. The right thing, the thing that I was best suited to do. I just never asked myself if it was what I wanted to do.
The last couple months, my numbers have improved to the point of it looking like I may actually have a shot. Maybe. I've been taking on a tremendous amount of volume and adapting to it. However the issues aren't my improvement, it is what the improvement is doing to me. I have suffered the loss ground in my job performance and relationship. Time with family and my other hobbies/loves have taken a backseat to time under the bar and on the airdyne. My testosterone has dropped from the punishment I've been putting on my body and my joints/ligaments have forgotten what feeling good was like. These are things I knew going in. What I didn't think about was the reason I started and fell in love with CrossFit in the first place. It was to achieve the highest level of fitness possible and now I ask myself is this what it is?
I see the sport of fitness and CrossFit's original mission statement as two completely different things in the same way the NFL is different from playing two hand touch with your friends or fighting in the UFC is different from hitting and kicking the bag a couple times a week. The latter is healthy and gives you many great things. The former is far more difficult to achieve and therefore a spectacle to us as humans. The punishment and sacrifice it takes to make it to the NFL or fight at a professional level is great and while the benefits can be great as well, the people that make those goals have to ask themselves if it is worth it to them and why it is. After a lot of thought I have redefined my goals and realized that family, friends, and the success of my business ventures are more important to me and without any outside encouragement.
This doesn't mean that I'm going to stop training or doing CrossFit. It doesn't even mean that I'm not gong to do the open. It just means that the focus of my training is going to be more towards being as healthy as possible in all parameters. This will possibly be even harder than my last goal and here's why. I'm competitive. I want to win everything. It doesn't matter if it's the WOD, a game of cards, or being the first to finish his food at the table. So here is my new goal. The highest quality of life possible through fitness and nutrition. This doesn't mean the best snatch, the fastest fran time, or the lowest body fat percentage. It means waking up every day and being awesome at everything I do and loving every minute of it. I can do it and I'm going to do it for me and no one else.
Training today:
Power clean doubles worked up to 275 1min rest between sets
5 sets of 10 pull-ups 2min rest between sets
Food
wafflehouse
2 egg omlete
half order of hash browns
Half chicken salad sandwich from boston market
Turkey 4ounces
mac n cheese 2 cups
2 cups mash potatoes and gravy
3 cups Green bean casserole
1 cup sweet potato casserole
Still have to eat dinner tonight.
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