Why I "Failed" Most of My Goals Last Year

Last year, 2022, I failed at most of my goals.

But you already knew that.

You read the title and now you wanna know why so you can avoid my mistakes.

I’ll cut right to it.

There’s 2 reasons why I failed at most of my goals:

1. I had way too many goals.

2. I tried to do them all at once.

Let me explain.

My fitness goals were to run a half marathon, run a sub 60 min 10k, and to get a lean and aesthetic physique.

BRUH, way too many things to focus on.

And I tried to do them all at once:

• going to the gym lifting

• doing speed work

• progressively increasing my mileage to gain endurance for the half-marathon.

Here was my reasoning:

I'll get the endurance and be able to run a further distance so the 10k should be nothing, a minor milestone on the way.

Right?

Wrong.

The 10k was first in June, 2022.

I ran it, but I didn’t hit my goal of running it in under 60 minutes.

Before the race I did let go of the half-marathon goal to focus 100% on the 10k. This was after a conversation with a sales rep at a running store where I bought new running shoes. He told me I should probably focus on one goal at a time. I listened, but it still wasn’t enough. It should have been my main focus from the beginning of the year.

I did end up completing my first half-marathon in Oct, 2022. My speed wasn’t there. I’m a slow runner. But I managed to complete it and that’s a win.

But besides fitness I had many other goals like:

• Getting fluent in Spanish.

• Getting my passport + traveling

• Learning to code and switch careers

• Starting a podcast and being consistent with it.

And the list could go on.

Do you see the problem with this?

Having too many goals = split focus.

“Where your attention goes, energy flows.”

This is essentially what manifestation is. To manifest something you must commit to the vision of it and pour your energy into it.

If your focus is being fragmented then your energy is being split into multiple different streams. Instead of going all in on one thing all your endeavors are half-assed.

Get it?

This year, it’s simple, I have 3 main goals.

One in business, one in fitness, and one personal.

Let’s say I hit the fitness goal. Cool. I can focus on the next fitness goal. But I’m only focused on ONE goal for each category.

I’m locked in this year.

Let’s make a deal.

I've created a framework for how I plan to achieve my goals this year.

I’ll let you in on my framework ONLY if you actually plan to stay committed to your goals this year.

Let's meet in 6-8 months and see how well it works out, deal?

Okay.

Here’s my 4-Step Framework:

Step 1. Set ONE PRIORITY goal for each of your categories. (NO MORE than 3 categories. Seriously, we just talked about this.) (Ex. Business, Fitness, Personal.)

I was reading the book ‘Essentialism’ recently. The author says that the word priority was actually singular until the 1900’s then we started to use the word priorities. Here’s a tweet about it:

Not sure how accurate the references are because a tweet in the replies dismisses the accuracy of it. Still, it’s pretty interesting that we tend to make a long list of *priorities* that absolutely need to get done and expect that we can get to them all.

Weird huh?

When you set these 3 priority goals write them as if they already happened and read them 3x times a day, everyday. (Morning, noon, night.)

"I ran my very first 10k."

"I made x amount of money in my business."

You need to shift into a new identity and start to believe that you are already this person. Embody your “future self” now and the actions will come as a natural byproduct of the embodiment.

Step 2. Create process goals from your one big priority goal.

Okay so you have your one big priority outcome goal, right? Let’s say you want to be able to run a 10k, that’s the goal. What’s the process goal? It's the habits that you must do to achieve the outcome goal. So a process goal might look like run 4x a week and gradually increase time/mileage.

You want to put on 10 pounds of muscle? A process goal might be stick to resistance training 4x a week and eat in a caloric surplus everyday. It's the process you follow.

Makes sense?

Cool.

(For some goals you might not know exactly what you need to do to get there. That's okay. If you continuously read your goals as if already done, while in a good feeling state, the inspirations will come to you. You may feel inspired to learn a new skill, try a new app, reach out to people, or come across a video that gives you the answers. Follow the inspired actions and trust your intuition.)

Step 3. Block out time for deep work focus sessions to complete your daily process goals.

If you can block out a good 2-6 hours to focus on your daily tasks, do that. If not, even an hour a day to learn whatever skill you need to focus on for the day is cool too.

For example, during the week I set aside an hour to study for my personal training certificate. If I can study more than that, cool! But if I do an hour then I’ve won the day. (The weekends are when I have longer deep work focus sessions. I also have time to focus on other process goals like content creation.)

Step 4. Score Yourself.

Give yourself a ‘W’ for the day.

After completing your tasks check them off and let yourself feel good!  Remember you're reading you goals 3x a day as if they already happened. As you see yourself completing your daily tasks you are proving to yourself that you are becoming the person that has achieved the goal. It rewires your brain to fully step into and embody the new identity.

Sidenote: Please don’t worry about when or how it’s going to happen. KNOW that it’s going to happen. Your energy and feelings are super important to the manifestation process. I can discuss in a newsletter down the line, but to sum it up you don’t want to be in a state of lack or scarcity.

Wait, actually, let me dive into this a little bit. I don’t wanna leave you hanging.

You have probably heard “gurus”, elite athletes, or people you look up to say things like:

• “focus on the process and not the outcome”

• "enjoy the journey”

• "be here now"

Because when you are completely immersed in your daily activities you are not focused on the lack of the outcome. You are already feeling good, whole, and complete right now as you enjoy the process of achieving your daily tasks.

The big secret to manifestation is simple: feel good NOW.

Here’s what Kobe had to say when asked what all the greats have in common:

"It's love. It's love. It's not even rocket science to me, man. It's not rocket science. The quality that we all share is that we love what we do. We absolutely love and it's a pure love. It's not the fame. It's not the money. It's not... it's not even the championships. It's love what we do and we do it all the time. We study all the time and as a result, the championships come," Kobe said.

Did you catch that? The championships take care of themselves. When you completely love what you do you become immersed in it. You're obsessed with it. So as cliche as it sounds fall in love with the process. It’s already done.

If you take any ‘L’s, that’s okay, don’t let it deter you. We all have off days. You just gotta win more than you lose. 5-6 wins out of 7 days a week is a great win record.

Also, you don’t have to go super hard everyday either, rest and recovery is just as important as the grind. Sometimes the most productive thing to do is to do nothing “productive”. Allow yourself the space to do nothing every now and then. Trying hard comes from lack. It means that you don't have it which is the experience that you will continuously create. 

The answers and inspirations come to you when you're not trying so hard.  It should feel like you're in flow– allowing things to unfold rather than forcing them. Avoid burnout at all costs. There’s really nowhere else to be except right here in the eternal now.

Lastly, evaluate the weeks and months.

See all your wins stacking up! :)

I’ve done something similar in the past to complete goals, but my problem last year was trying to focus on way too many. Split focus = Split energy.

Also, to be honest, before I really understood the energy dynamics of manifestation–

I would go after my goals from a place of lack and scarcity (which repels) instead of from a less needy place. (You know, the whole and complete place we just talked about.)

Dead serious– I plan on posting an update 6-8 months from now on my 3 main goals. Let’s see how far I get when I’m only focused on 3 of them.

Here they are:

• Start an online business and quit my job.

• Lean, athletic physique. (gain muscle and lose body fat)

• Move to Phoenix, Arizona. (Currently live in Wisconsin.)

Oh yeah, these things are already done. Time just has to catch up.

If you’re feeling bold share yours in the DMs on Instagram @parkourwrites_

Let’s make it happen!

See you 6-8 months.

-P

Podcast

If you enjoyed this newsletter you might also enjoy the 'Life is a Video Game Podcast' check it out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts.

(Will be adding additional podcast apps soon.) 

P's Picks of the Week ⚡

🎙 Podcast: What Manifestation Truly Is Beyond The BS

📝 Blog Post: The Fractal Based Content Tree (how to streamline content creation)

🧘 Self-Inquiry: "In the absence of thought does awareness of experience disappear?" 

💬 Quote (from this video: "Flow, The Paradox of Intention, and the 4 States of Mind):

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