Goals. We all have them, we all desire for them to be completed, and we all choose whether they come to fruition. Commonly when we have a spark of energy or motivation, all of the goals we’ve ever desired come to mind and we want to achieve them..now. Whatever your goal(s) look like, they all can’t be accomplished at once, but they ultimately can all be accomplished.Have you ever watched a child (or grown adult, I won’t shy from this) spread peanut butter on a piece of toast? It’s sloppy, way too thick, and dripping off every corner of the bread. This image can be similar to when we try to take on too many goals at a time. We pile on too many commitments, but things end up falling off the edge and eventually there is nothing even left on the toast for us to spread.

Only spread your energy and time on what will soak it up. If you are looking to eat cleaner, lose weight, start working out, drink more water, and boost your energy (all of the peanut butter on the toast), then things will fall to the waste side (or off of the toast onto the plate) and you may only succeed at one or none because it was just. too. much. Don’t add excess when there isn’t a need for it; take your goals one at a time, get confident and comfortable with that goal becoming a habit, and slowly start integrating another goal into the spotlight once you feel ready. If you spread yourself too thin (no pun intended) and put your focus on too many goals, you’re setting yourself up to be disappointed before you’ve even started.

Here are three action steps to choosing and committing to a goal:

1. Be specific: If I say my goal is to eat healthier, what does that mean? What defines healthy? What does healthy look like to me? Where do I even begin? Be specific with your goals and break it down into actionable steps that you can accomplish on a daily basis. For example, if you want to eat healthier, dive a little deeper and commit to eating 600g of fruits and vegetables per day. This is a specific, attainable, and realistic goal that will improve your eating habits and focus more on whole, fresh, nutrient dense foods.

2. Find Support/Accountability: Doing anything alone is hard. When we are working to break old habits and create new ones, it requires a deep dive into unknown territory, vulnerability, and learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. It’s important to have someone to talk through your frustrations, fears, anxieties, failures, successes, and everything in between. Finding a coach, friend, or significant other to walk through the ups and downs of molding and shaping a new habit into your lifestyle is critical for your mental, physical, and emotional health as well as the success of your goal being met.

3. Focus more on the process rather than the actual goal: The goal is to lose 10 lbs. but time and energy has been too focused on the scale moving. This is a clear sign the target has been lost and needs to be put back into perspective; the process. Say you’ve committed to working with a coach at AIM but you are frustrated because your weight hasn’t changed in two weeks. Your hitting your macros pretty inconsistently, your sleep is whacko, and you haven’t been to the gym in 2 weeks, all of which pertain to the process of losing weight. But you can’t see those giant red flags because all of your focus and time has been set on your weight changing; the end goal. We can’t get to the end goal unless our process is consistent and pristine. If the focus shifted from the scale to really perfecting the macro targets and being consistent with daily intake, then the end goal you were focusing on all along will start to creep closer because the process was in line with the goal. If you make the process part of your goal, the habits you create will be more deep-rooted, sustainable, and permanent.

We all love peanut butter and thankfully, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Be intentional with the amount you put on your toast, and if any falls onto the plate, lick up that dang drop and keep on munchin’.