3 Qualities of People That Achieve Their Goals

"I don't have time."

"I'm too busy."

"I'll start when ____."

"My classes are super hard this semester."

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

These excuses are why you'll never get the results you're after.

Here's the thing. Everyone's busy. Everyone has other commitments. Every college kid has a class that's kicking their ass every semester.

But, there always seems to be that handful of people that somehow manage to pull off the seemingly impossible and achieve their own fitness goals (muscle gain, fat loss, increased strength).

How do they do it?

Here are some of the qualities of the people who DO achieve the goals that set out to accomplish:

1. Belief

The first common denominator in essentially all of these cases is the belief that they could achieve that goal.

Yeah no s***, if you're constantly telling yourself that you're too busy, too stressed, too far gone to see any change... you're right. You won't see that change.

But, if you truly believe that you can make the necessary change and commitment to reach your goal... you're also right.

The thoughts that are constantly in your head will manifest your reality. This is the first place to start when looking to achieve any goal.

This isn't to say that you'll never have any negative thoughts ever again. That simply won't happen, and if used correctly, they can actually be helpful (more on this later).

The key is to make positive thinking your default mode.

Way too often in today's world, our default mode of thinking is negative. What's wrong with this? What could go wrong? What might happen?

This was a huge issue for me, and is something that I'm still working on to this day.

It's not an overnight transformation, but the key is to begin now in working to rewire your brain to look at the positive first.

If you are not able to do this, your limiting beliefs will be your biggest obstacle in accomplishing a goal that you wish to achieve.

Here's a quick exercise that you can start today to clear up some of these limiting beliefs and flip them around into positive things.

Take a piece of paper and make a chart with 2 columns. One titled "limiting belief" and one titled "liberating truth" (got this idea from the book Your Best Your Ever by Michael Hyatt).

In the limiting belief column, write done the false stories you've been telling yourself as to why you can't achieve something.

In the liberating truth column, write down the corresponding truth of the situation that you weren't able to see before.

For example, I used to be scared and uncomfortable talking on camera. I was "awkward." This is the belief that I held, and it showed in my IG stories. I wasn't confident in what I was saying, even though I knew I had valuable information for my followers. This was one limiting belief that I held.

The corresponding, liberating truth of that situations was that I did in fact have valuable information that my followers needed to hear, so it was up to me to show up confident in my ability to deliver it.

This same exercise can be translated to any other limiting belief you have.

"Too busy" to start taking your nutrition and fitness seriously?

Flip that and acknowledge that you have the power and ability to make time, since your health is a priority to you.

With some repetition, acknowledging your true ability will be hardwired into your way of thinking!

2. True Desire to Achieve a Goal

This one's kinda straightforward, but not really.

Of course you have to want to achieve something to actually go and achieve it.

The problem is that people all the time say that they "want" to accomplish something, but they don't really mean it.

True desire to achieve a goal will give you that needed boost to push through tough times, to stick it out even when achieving that goal seems like the farthest thing from reality at the time.

Every guy says they want a six pack.

But when s*** gets real and it's been 1-2 months and they're 8 pack isn't showing yet, they get all pissed off and ditch the goal completely, saying that it this just "isn't for them."

Someone who truly desires do achieve that goal will understand that this is part of the process and that true change and results takes time (more than 1-2 months).

What's the key to unlocking this desire and being able to use it to your advantage?

Knowing your "why."

This is the key. If you truly understand why you want something, it lights that fire underneath you to the point that you'll stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

Your "why" is deeper than, "I want a six pack" or "I want to look better."

What will having a six pack do for you? What does looking better even mean?

Try "I want to gain muscle so I have the confidence to be more outgoing at parties and in social situations. I've never been that open to talking to new people."

Lot more convincing, right?

Thought so.

Now, everyone's "why" is different, and it's up to you to figure out what yours' is.

On that same piece of paper that you made the chart we talked about before, I want you to take a couple of minutes and truly think about why you want to build muscle.

If you're having trouble, answer this question:

"If I could snap my fingers and give you a six pack (or insert your goal here), what exactly will that do for you?"

3. Leveraging Failure/Negativity for Success

The path to your goal isn't straight and smooth, I hate to tell you.

That's the reality of things. You're going to experience setbacks. You're going to experience negative thoughts and emotions along the way. People are going to try to rain on your parade.

What truly separates "successful" people from those who give up is their interpretation of these types of events and situations.

Successful people invite failure. They want criticism. They view fear as a good thing.

First of all, we've all heard the quote "failure is feedback."

While cliche, it is very true.

Apparent failures actually provide us with our most valuable lessons.

For example, if you're trying to bulk and just can't seem to hit your calories on a daily basis, you could:

1. Bitch and complain that you're full all the time, or that you don't have time to meal prep.

2. Look at the situation and see what you can do differently to hit the calories. Oh, you haven't been utilizing shakes? You notice that and then make the adjustment to drink a power shake every day for breakfast to get the extra calories in without too much extra prep or feeling too full. Problem solved!

Which situation sounds more appealing to you?

An awesome exercise that you can do whenever you feel the negativity or anxiety creeping up on you is called "positive focus journaling."

All you do is write out the negative situation that you're in. This alone is a great way to externalize those thoughts and get them out of your head.

But, let's take it a step farther.

Now, once you have the situation written out, take it and spin it around in a positive light. What is something positive that you can take away from the situation? What is the lesson that you learned?

Taking a lesson away from every negative situation or "failure" will be a HUGE facilitator of long term results.

Not only are your learning something, but it also helps to keep that fire of motivation burning whereas someone else would have let it flicker out in the face of that situation.

Wrapping it up

There are so many more qualities that come to mind when I think of people that truly accomplish what they set out to do.

But, just as with my nutrition programming, I'm not going to throw everything at you at once.

If you're able to take these three principles and put them into action, you will see results, both instantaneous and in the long term.

Not only that, but you'll have a lot more fun along the way!

Oh, and one more thing.

Perhaps the most important thing when looking to achieve anything is...

TAKE ACTION.

Do something. Do anything that will get you closer to your goal. Don't overthink it!

With that, what is one goal that you truly desire to achieve in the coming year?

Shoot me a DM on Instagram at @tclarknutrition and Iet me know! I'd love to help you get your year started off on a strong note!