Everyone Has a Secret Goal

Everyone has a secret goal. A goal they’ve been hiding away from the world because they were told it was unrealistic, or are afraid of being shot down or laughed at. Whether you’re 5 or 95, there’s always a secret goal brewing inside.

Today I visited my Grandad’s cousin and she told me her secret goal is to become an aquafit instructor. But then someone told her the course would be too difficult and had tried to put her off.

Bullshark. She is a total boss, and she knows she is highly capable of crushing it as an aquafit instructor. But she’s been putting it off because now she’s confused about what to do and where to begin.

Here’s the thing: confusion is a goal-paralyzer.

When we think we don’t know what we want or we believe we don’t know how to get it, we just do nothing. We give up before we’ve started. I know, because I’ve been there, and it sucks.

So she and I created a plan.

There are three main things you need to achieve any goal:

1. Clarity on exactly what it is you truly want

2. A simple plan of attack that includes daily action

3. Accountability to keep you taking that daily action no matter what

These three steps put people in LFM (aka: laser-focus mode).

At 71 she has:

1. Got clarity: Become a brilliant aquafit instructor in 2020

2. Created a simple plan for daily action: Go online to find out the requirements and sign up to a course – then take daily action to complete the course

3. Accountability: Agreed that I will phone her in June, and will be expecting her to be well underway to achieve her goal in 2020.

It doesn’t matter what your secret goal is – what matters is that you admit it to yourself and start taking daily action towards it.

What is the secret goal you’ve been stuffing inside your sock drawer?

Well that escalated quickly

Today I did push ups ON our flight from Tenerife to London… in the seat aisle!

I still have to see if I can hit 32 today, I’m about to head off and do them now. If you’d like to closely follow my progress, I’ve been sharing a lot on my instagram stories: @saraharnoldhall

I’ve also been trying to add in other elements to my workouts, like core and holding plank positions and variations such as this:

Do you have any top tips for workouts that will strengthen the muscles that don’t involve actual push ups?

Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear!

Push Ups Update & Training Routine

Day: 129
Push up ability: 26

Today I hit 26! That’s my personal best and over 1/4 of the way to my 100 push ups goal.

I’ve been getting so much advice from so many people across my social platforms, it’s been awesome to feel so much support. I’ve had people creating short videos with advice for workouts, mindset coaches reaching out with tips, people suggesting nutritionists and personal trainers offering to help. The power of community is beautiful.

Today my goal on the calendar was 30 push ups. I hit 26 before collapsing, but I’m impressed that I managed to do that many because my arms have been super sore from intense training during the last couple of days.

Now what I’ve been doing is pushing myself to exhaustion at every workout (my arms are even shaking a little as I type this!).

Now my training routine is:

1. Doing as many push ups as I can in a row
2. 20-second rest
3. Doing as many knee push ups as I can in a row
4. 20-second test
5. Doing as many floor drops as I can( I’m sure there’s a legit name for this, I’m talking about where you get in plank/push up position and lower yourself fully to the ground very slowly, then get up and repeat it).

I’m excited that my body is beginning to feel challenged, I’m noticing it’s a lot sorer (in a good way) recently. I once heard someone say “muscle pain after a workout is the feeling of getting better looking.”

Now as well as making sure my form is correct, I want to start truly going as deep as I can, because they are currently quite shallow push ups (I’m not going as far down as I could).

Looking forward to updating you again soon!

Why You Need to Set 2030 Goals Now

What are your 2030 goals?

While everyone else is worrying about what they’ll do in 2020, now is the time to think bigger. Where do you want to be in a decade?

A decade ago today, Instagram didn’t exist, and now it dominates our lives (can you imagine going back to before social media?!). The iPhone wasn’t mainstream. Justin Bieber wasn’t famous.

In one year, you might get some stuff done, but when you’ve got a decade to play with, you can think properly big, seriously impossible.

Think 2030, then take your actions from 2020.

I’m off for my own 2030 journaling session now.

What Is Your 2020 Needle-Mover?

A needle mover is a task that will propel your project or area you are working on to the next level.

I once heard a story about a man who had a whole raft of issues – he was severely overweight, in a troubled relationship, his career was on the rocks, he was a chain smoker and he also chewed gum. He finally decided he needed to make some serious changes in his life – so he chose to stop chewing gum.

Huh?

You have all of those issues, and you chose to use your limited daily willpower to stop chewing gum?

The thing is, this dude clearly had good intentions, and he was ready change his life. He just didn’t stop to think about the actions that would truly propel his life forward. But he was making a crucial mistake: the change he was making wouldn’t propel his life forward to the next level. He needed to focus on one thing that would truly make a difference. Perhaps for him, it was losing weight, leaving his relationship or getting a new job.

If you could only work on ONE thing in 2020 that would propel you forward – just ONE, what would it be?

For me, it’s getting the word out about my members club, Impossible Incubator.

In other words, my sales funnel is my 2020 needle mover.

What is the most important needle-mover for 2020?

Push Ups Update

I’m back in the game to get to 100 push ups. If you read my November Goals Review, you’ll know that the reason I didn’t achieve my goal of 30 push ups is that I was already at 25. I set the bar too low, and made the mistake of believing “I had time” to work up to it.

But I broke my own rule #1: Don’t set realistic goals.

Realistic goals are boring, and I have no motivation for them. Impossible Goals get me fired up.

So I’ve decided, instead, this month I will reach an impossible goal: 50 push ups.

Ooh, it gets me excited just thinking about it!

Here is my workout routine:

I only started it yesterday, but I am READY to make this happen! I’m going to accelerate them a bit, as I can definitely do more than 5 push ups. Tonight I managed to comfortably do 10 in a row, which is great because it’s actually the 7th day of the month! So I’m going to continue training at the rate of aiming for 50 push ups by the 31st of December.

I’ll keep you updated – make sure to check out my Instagram Stories as that’s where I’ll be posting most!

December Goals

I learned something SO important about goal setting in November: don’t deviate from what works!

I believe in setting goals that feel impossible because they motivate you to have to think differently, act differently and show up to your day differently. In November, I made the ultimate mistake. I set realistic goals – and I didn’t hit any of them.

With that in mind, here are my goals for December:

I will easily get to 50 push ups in a row by December 31st, 2019.
I will easily put on an online workshop by December 31st, 2019.
I will easily meditate without guided audio every day of December, 2019.

I feel excited and slightly scared by these goals, which is how I know I’ve set the right ones.

What are your goals for the last month of the decade?

November Goals: Review

My November Goals:

1. I will easily craft a dedicated space in my house for meditation by November 30, 2019.

2. I will easily reach 30 deep, consistent, improved-form push ups by November 30, 2019.

3. I will easily stop working and begin winding down for sleep by 10pm for the entire month, until November 30, 2019.

4. I will easily create 1 new YouTube video by November 30, 2019.

Dear November Self,

You have forgotten your own rule: realistic goals don’t excite you. They don’t get you motivated. They don’t make you get up in the morning and think, YES! This is going to take all I’ve got, and I’m ready to tackle this challenge! Instead, realistic goals make you fall into the trap of thinking you have time, thinking you can easily pull it off. November Sarah, you convinced yourself that what you needed was rest because you were tired when what you really needed was a goal exciting enough to wake you up.

Therefore, I’m sorry to report, that you didn’t achieve a single one of your November goals. Wow. What a learning lesson. You need to taste your own medicine, walk your own talk. It’s so much worse to aim low and not hit your goals, that it is to aim high and not hit your goals. You aimed low, and a low goal wasn’t motivational enough to even attempt it. You did push ups just ONCE this entire month! By setting low goals, you set yourself up to fail.

This December, you must not forget that you thrive when you are inspired by a challenge, and pushing your limits is what you do best. Don’t dull your potential with realistic goals. Ignite it with impossible ones!

This lesson is probably far more important than achieving any of your November goals. Not only is it important that you learned this in time for December, but you learned this lesson in time for 2020, and a new decade ahead.

Girl, push. your. limits.

Love, future self x

P.S. Your December goals better be absolute fire 🔥

Design your life

You know what drives me absolutely crazy? When I see someone letting life happen to them.

I don’t care whether your ideal life is being a high flying executive or a bus driver, but you better be designing it yourself. You better be absolutely crushing it as a bus driver. You better be passionately in love with driving the your executive job. It doesn’t matter what you do, just do it on purpose.

You can let life control what happens to you or you can control what happens in your life.

Don’t get me wrong – you don’t have to actually HAVE the lifestyle you are designing yet. Design is a process. You’re constantly writing the next chapter, so there’s no rush to get anywhere – but you cannot sit back and let someone else write your story. Or else you’re going to wake up one day and realise you’re living someone else’s life.

If reading this makes you think – uh oh, I’m not taking control of my life – then here are some easy things you can do to start taking charge right now.

1. Purposely create a vision for your life.

2. Write it down, cut out pictures, create a vision board.

3. Look at it every single day, and actively take small steps in the direction of the vision.

Take a look at my Humble Vision post to learn more about how to do step number 3.

I’ll say it again: it doesn’t matter what you do, just do it on purpose.

2020 Goal Setting

Tonight I snuggled up with my journal and did some good old fashioned goal setting.

Except it wasn’t old fashioned at all. The old fashioned way tells us that we should be setting “SMART” goals. You know, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Bound.

What a load of BS.

I’ve watched my clients set realistic goals, I’ve watched myself set realistic goals, and I’ve watched strangers set realistic goals – and quite frankly, they’re a flop.

Realistic “SMART” goals don’t make you jump out of bed in the morning with delight and passion.
Realistic “SMART” goals don’t make you take bold action towards your dreams
Realistic “SMART” goals don’t show you what you are truly capable of.

They keep you stuck. They keep you playing small. They keep you running on the spot.

What should you do, then?

Set an impossible goal. Something that feels so unattainable and unrealistic for you right now.

Why?

Because setting an impossible goal gets you excited. It makes you move across the world without a job or a place to live. It makes you leave a bad relationship. It makes you invest in yourself.

Impossible goals make you bet on YOU.

If there’s just one thing you do when you set your 2020 goals, please please please don’t let them be SMART.