The Importance of Vision and Goals

Today I want to touch on something that one of my greatest idols always talks about, and that is the importance of a vision and goal.

“Why do you want to work out, what is your goal.  The most important thing is that you have a vision, that you have a goal.  Because without that vision and without that goal, you’re just drifting around and you’re never going to end up anywhere.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

These couple sentences are stuck in my head (often hearing them in Arnolds voice).  A vision sets the tone for how you will live your life.  It makes you accountable.  Are you habits and the way you live your life bringing you closer to your vision, or are they pushing you away from it?  When it comes to your body, it needs three things to make a vison a reality.  Weightlifting, cardio and nutrition is all it needs.  So often were caught up in the impossibility of life’s challenges, that we forget to break down these challenges into attainable wins that will bring us closer to our vision.

Here’s an analogy for you.  If you were told you could get a billion dollars, and all you had to do for it was to go outside and lift a rock, chances are you would be excited, yet probably skeptical.  You start asking questions, “well how much does the rock weigh” you ask.  If a voice answers back that the rock weighs one ton, chances are you would become depressed because it’s impossible to lift that much weight, and it’s not realistic, and you wouldn’t even try to attempt to move it.  But if a voice answers back that the rock weighs five pounds, you get excited because you know you can do that, because it is an easily achievable task.  But what if you applied your outlook for the five-pound rock to the one ton rock.  Five pounds is manageable, if you just chip away at the one ton rock, five pounds at a time, eventually your gonna move the whole thing.

Our visions and goals are things that need to be chipped away at.  If the vision is strong enough and you stay accountable to that vision, take it one day at a time and you will eventually get there.  My vision with my fitness is to become a lean and strong athlete.  I have set SMART goals for my vision.  I wrote them down on paper and I have a mental image in my head of how I want to look and feel.  Every day before I crawl into bed at night I’m doing an accountability check.  Am I closer today than I was yesterday?  Did I do enough today with the time I had? What am I going to do tomorrow to be closer tomorrow than I was today?

Have a clear vision, and chip away at it, one step at a time.

Johnny,

Soon to be “Johnny Two Plates”