Setting goals in the gym is a great way to give yourself focus, direction and an objective measure against which you can assess your progress. However, a lot of beginners set targets that are so unrealistic they often end up overwhelming themselves, undermining their confidence and harming their progress in the long run.
For example, as a trainer, it’s not uncommon for me to get a request from clients such as “I want to lose 14lbs in the next 30 days before holiday”. The problem with this approach is that the outcome, to a large degree, is outside of your control. There is no way to know for sure how your body will react to any given diet or exercise plan. Setting goals against arbitrary metrics such as this can make you feel like you’ve failed and that you are the source of the failure if you fail to reach the precise metric you’ve outlined for yourself.
To avoid this trap, it is often better to focus on the process, rather than the outcome, concentrating your efforts on the things that you can control and exert influence over. For beginners, that generally means establishing consistency in your training regime, striving to achieve progressive overload with your weekly workouts and supporting your training with good nutrition and proper recovery.
By focusing on the process, rather than on the outcome you redirect your focus on what is within you inner locus of control; discipline, motivation and organisation to name a few and these drive the actions needed to necessitate the outcome you’re moving towards.In turn, this makes it almost inevitable that your achieve your desired outcomes, building confidence and a kind of psychological momentum that will propel you towards achieving even bigger goals.