Why You Should Set a Mini-Goal

Set the bar so low you can’t trip over it.

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I hate working out. Of course, if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know this.

Now, while I hate working out, I still do it. Pretty regularly at that. 3 times a week, every week; and I even did it over the holidays.

It all started with training for a 10K run last year. I was starting from zero, and I quickly realised that I wasn’t going to become a 10K runner overnight.

So I started with a goal of 0.5K. After I reached that, the goal was 1K, then 1.5K, then 2K… you get the idea.

I cannot describe the feeling when I hit 1K for the first time. I clapped for my damn self. I could not believe I had managed it, and it inspired me to continue. Every time I hit a milestone, I essentially told myself, See, you can do this. You can actually do this.

I like to think of these 0.5K increment increases as ‘moving targets’. Every time I reached one, I set a new target. I kept aiming for longer distances.

Since all that started, I’ve wondered why we don’t set ‘moving target’ goals all the time.

Think about it: they’re goals, but they help you to maintain momentum and find new inspiration and motivation every time. They also work for everything, not just running 5K.

Say for example, that you wanted to build up core strength. You could set a goal to plank everyday, starting at planking for 10 seconds, and increase it by 1 second every two days.

Or, if you wanted to eat more vegetables, you could start by eating one more vegetable each week, and then grade up.

It also works if you’re trying to break a habit. Let’s say you want to eat less candy. Rather than going cold turkey, you could start by swapping one portion of candy for a piece of fruit, or by cutting out one portion a week.

‘Moving target’ goals set the bar low. Like, really low. They make it harder to fail and easier to succeed, and there’s always a way forward. That’s pretty great, right?

Try it yourself. Write down what it is that you want to be better at, or do more of, and then break it down into easily doable increments. You can also use the water, vegetable, and fruit trackers in the app. Log what you do each day, and aim to increase it week by week.

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Healthy living, simplified.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist, it just goes so well!)

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/Femi, The Girl Who Hates Working Out

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