Form habits vs. achieve goals: Focus on both to create a successful lifestyle

Nov 13

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I’m a horrible runner.

I enjoy sports but have always enjoyed fast food more than burning it off through exercise before or after ingesting it.

That being said, I was part of the rowing crew during my freshman year of college. I knew I needed to get into better shape before trying out for the team, so I worked all summer to better equip myself with various gym equipment and watching what I ate. Being a lifeguard the summer before gave me plenty of time and encouragement from my coworkers, who were all generally in better shape.

Once I was on the team, I did develop a fondness for going to our gym, practice, and accomplishing our daily workouts.

Did I complete them all? Not that I remember.

Did I show up for practice and develop a habit of running and weightlifting when we didn’t have practice on the water? You bet.

Learning to row wasn’t about just physically knowing how to row in a boat. It was more about being dedicated to learning how to train and encourage yourself to be better when you weren’t in a boat.

Even though I only rowed on the team for about 4-6 months, I was still able to create a habit that helped me stay fit after the experience was over. I routinely try new programs that encourage the same aspects as I learned with that first habit. Once Fitbit became a trend, I started tracking and incorporating different exercises to get the most out of my workouts and food intake.

While achieving my goal(being on crew) was my main motivator, creating a habit(working out every day) was more impactful and important for my long-term aspirations.

Both achieving goals and forming new habits is important to achieve success, but is one better than the other when you want to be considered as successful? If you consider advice from the likes of Psychology Today many experts suggest making a new habit the end goal, rather than the goal itself.

For example: you want to run a marathon. Your goal might be to run a marathon but making a habit to run every morning before work will help you be more successful.

Many goal-reaching tendencies and advice are rooted in habit-forming rituals. Whether you divide your goal into subsections to make achieving your goal easier or use positive reinforcement throughout your process, reaching a habit is easier using these same methods.

So how do you create a habit rather than achieve a goal?

This answer is simple. Do both.

Each strategy can help you establish and achieve the other.

With the New Year approaching, this is a great way to set up your New Year’s Resolutions.

Here are some simple ways you can achieve your goal and how to form a habit in the same process.

Divide your goal into easy, attainable, smaller goals

You wouldn’t run a race without training beforehand would you?

Most training programs encourage about 8-weeks of training before a big race, and if your goal is something more monumental, it could take a longer period to achieve your goal.

Fitbit are great ways to compartimentalize different aspects of your goals. I'm able to not only see my steps, but also my milage, stairs, and activity minutes for each day. Dividing each of these aspects into seperate categories lets me focus on one particular goal rather than my overarching goal.

This is why when you want to achieve a goal, such as training for a marathon or going to school, programs tend to divide each portion of the program into chunks so people would not get discouraged when attempting them. These chunks allow you to form a habit to achieve each smaller goal.

When having a big, overarching goal in mind, you must divide it up into smaller portions to make smaller habitual changes in your life. Once you start making small habits, it becomes easier to achieve your goal.

Reward yourself when you achieve each goal

Your goal might be to run for five days straight. A worthy goal, but you must first accustom yourself to form the habit of running every day.

Once you form this habit or achieve this goal, make sure you don’t regress. Saying you will run every day for five days and then allowing yourself a few days off does not help you maintain your habit. Reward yourself only in ways that will help you reinforce your habit.

That’s not to say you can’t indulge in your other of your favorite activities that oppose your new habits. Maybe reward yourself with an hour of TV or allow yourself to get a sandwich from your favorite local deli. As long as your reward doesn’t harm your chances of ruining your progress for your newly formed habit, you lower your risk of regressing or reverting to bad habits.

Make both your rewards and your habits or goals measurable as well as attainable. You want to be able to define why you achieved your goal or formed a habit and when to reward yourself. Without a when or a why you have no clear way to keep track of your progress.

Encourage yourself with positive thoughts and motivation

I tend to fail at this one, mainly because I want to do well, but berating my progress won’t make anything happen quicker than what I am doing right then to achieve my goal and form a new habit.

“You must remember: progress is still progress. It might not be the progress you want, but it’s progress nonetheless.”

Make sure you encourage yourself to keep committed to your goal. Having a resounding and fulfilling why helps a lot when achieving your goal. If you want to run a marathon, running a race for a cause that you are passionate about will help encourage you to form your habit and continue as long as possible to get the results you want.

If you are trying to create a healthier lifestyle, my Fitbit also encourages me to stay consistent throughout the day. Every hour you can alert yourself of how many steps you have taken, taking breaks to meditate, and notifications when you've reached your calorie goal.

As for positive thoughts, encourage yourself by your progress each day. Again, you might not see a lot of progress or consistency at first, but you’ll notice little things that become more noticeable with time. Even when you start, it’s important to know that you are starting and acknowledge how you are bettering yourself with each milestone that helps you achieve your goal.

Keep a record of your progress: both the good and bad

The reason I love my Fitbit is that it helps me make a habit of tracking my progress. Sometimes that progress is regressive, but it holds me accountable regardless of the results.

Being able to see how many steps I’ve taken or how many times I’ve exercised in a week, both with the app and weekly progress reports, I’m able to take stock in what goals I’ve achieved along with what goals I need to continue to work on.

Each smaller goal will not come easy, nor will it always give you the result that you want.

But being able to see a record of your progress will help you with your motivation, your plan for your habits and goals, and show you how to reward yourself when the time comes.

Plus, seeing all the progress you have made is a great motivator and accomplishment when you finally reach your overarching goal. Not only will you have “ran a marathon,” you’ll have the training record to prove it.