Are you someone who is patient or not?
Most of us need to work on our patience.
But when goal-setting, you have to know yourself. You have to know whether or not you are patient with the results you want to attain or not.
Because to achieve any kind of meaningful goal, the result is going to take time.
Actions and results are not always closely related in time and space.
You can’t eat one healthy meal and expect to lose 3 lbs.
You can’t workout for one week and expect to look ripped.
If you're impatient, then create shorter timelines for your goals. And make sure your goal isn’t massive within that short period of time.
Along the same lines, you have to understand if you are someone who is outcome focused or process focused.
Do you rely on the outcome for motivation? Or do you get motivation from the execution of the process?
With the example of a weight loss goal, a lot of people are too outcome focused. If they don’t see the number on the scale move after a week or two, then they feel defeated and quit.
Some people get motivation from the process. Some people feel proud of themselves after completing a tough workout and after meal prepping for the week.
If you’re outcome focused, then first off, start to shift your mindset to being more process focused. But secondly, if you are too outcome focused, make sure you set goals that are attainable.
Your level of patience and your ability to focus on the process over the outcome, should influence the size of the goal and the timespan over which to set that goal.
If you're less patient, set more realistic goals over a shorter period of time.
If you're more patient, you can set bigger goals over a longer period of time.
If you're outcome focused, set more realistic goals.
If you're process focused, you can set bigger goals.