3 ‘hacks’ to help you hit your goals in 2020

Between our team of fitness coaches at BASE Bangkok we have over 100 years of coaching experience, so I have many conversations with them about all things health and fitness to really draw from their knowledge and experiences. 

One interesting topic for me is the psychology behind making progress and hitting your goals.

I think it’s clear that there’s no one right way to go about setting and hitting your goals. It’s different for everyone and what might motivate and work for some people, might not work for another.

You need to find what works for you so to give you some ideas, here are three methods that I’ve seen different people have success with that may help you hit your goals in 2020 and make it your best ever year.

THE ACCOUNTABILITY HACK

Here’s one of my favourite ‘hacks’ to help me hit my goals – tell as many people as possible that you are going to do something to really put this pressure on and make you do it.

If you keep your goals to yourself then it’s easy to bail on them when the going gets tough. 

Because there’s no one holding you accountable, there’s not enough downside to giving up. Sure, you might feel a bit bad about it for a short while, but you’ll soon forgive yourself.

However, if you tell the world about your goals and how important they are to you, everywhere you go people will be asking you about it. You won’t want to tell everyone you see that you’ve given up, so that will help you stay on track.

I used this when I recently entered a kettlebell competition to keep my training on track and it worked – I hit the goal I told the world about as I didn’t want to publicly fall short.

Social media is usually the best way to do this – announce your goal to the world and tell everyone to ask you about it every time they see you.

THE FINANCIAL HACK

If you’re motivated by money (or the risk of losing money) then this one’s for you. 

Give your friend a large amount of money, an amount you’re uncomfortable losing. And then tell them that if you don’t hit your goal, they can keep the money.

Rather than going for aesthetic goals such as ‘get bigger legs/butt’ or ‘get a six pack’, I’d recommend setting process goals, such as ‘go to the gym 3 times per week’. 

Process goals are often a far better way to approach your training, as they keep the focus on what you need to do, rather than simply where you want to go. 

An example of a process goal for learning a language would be ‘to do 2 Thai lessons per week’, whereas an outcome goal would be something like ‘become good enough at Thai to have a conversation with a taxi driver’.

The great thing about process goals is that they are in your control and, ultimately, if you focus on hitting the process, you will get to the desired outcome.

Keep your goal realistic (after all, you don’t want to lose the money by setting an impossible goal, like winning Olympic gold at the 100m spring) but choose something that will challenge you and take your training to the next level.

If you’re stuck, I’d recommend your process goal to be ‘to do a training session 3 times per week for the first 3 months of 2020’.

THE IDENTITY HACK

This one is harder to get to mentally, but the most powerful one if you can get it right.

An identity hack is effectively changing how you perceive yourself in 2020.

If now you are someone who doesn’t train and isn’t in great shape or healthy, this can become part of your identity. It can become part of who you are.

‘I just wasn’t built for exercise’. ‘I’m bad at remembering names’. ‘I’ve always had a bad back, always will’. These are the kind of things that if we repeat them enough – out loud and to ourselves – they become part of who we are.

Over the new year, reflect on the kind of person you want to be in 2020.

Do you want to be the person that spends hours on social media each day, or hours bettering yourself with reading, podcasts and things that move you forwards?

Do you want to be the person that doesn’t make time for exercise, or the person that prioritizes their health and fitness? 

After all, if the world’s leading CEOs with insane schedules can make time for exercise, surely you can too.

A vegan doesn’t have to decide whether not to eat a burger every day, it’s just something they do. A marathon runner doesn’t have to decide each day if he wants to run or not, it’s become part of who he is.

Hacking your identity – how you perceive yourself and others view you – is not an easy thing to do, but if you can reflect over the holiday break over who you want to be in 2020, you can come back an upgraded and improved version of yourself!

SUMMARY

We shouldn’t need a new year to set goals for ourselves, but they’re often a good time to reflect on the year gone by and the year ahead. Rather than fast results in 2020, strive for long term change and success that becomes part of who you are.

If you’d like any help hitting your goals in 2020 please contact the team at BASE at [email protected] and we’ll find the right fitness coach and plan of action for you!