Not Achieving Your Goals? This One Trick Will Change How You Reach Them
We like setting goals. It makes us feel on top of our lives and empowered. At least when we set them we feel empowered. “I’ve got this!” and “Watch me!” are our battle cries.
Then we fall short. If it happens at all. There are a few large hurdles in every goal and they are always the same: Starting and Continuing.
We want the end result, but making a change is difficult and that first step is one of the scariest.
Once we finally take that step, we have to keep going. Which is also hard. We already took one big step, now we have to take more? How many steps are we needing to take, especially when it seems each one gets progressively harder?
While there is no answer to the number of steps you will have to take, there are answers on how to take them.
Just Start
“I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.” — Alberto Salazar
Starting is one of the hardest parts about actually achieving a goal.
It’s a scary thing to make a change. There are so many unknown factors. The biggest one probably being, “Will I even succeed?”
We let doubt and fear creep in. We question and second guess ourselves. We want to succeed. So we take small baby steps to make sure we are able to achieve them. The problem is that those baby steps won’t take us very far. We move an inch or two and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. But we are still miles from where we want to be. So did we really accomplish the goal we set out to do? Not really.
Goals are meant to be hard. They are meant to push and contort your way of thinking so that we can grow into the person we want to be.
“If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.” — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Crossing the Passagio
Here is the one big thing: Cross the Passagio. Let me explain how I found this and what it is.
I have been trying to push myself physically and signed up for a 5k. This is completely new for me and I have been learning so much as I become a runner. It’s incredibly hard. This breathing thing gets me every time. I sound like an asthmatic and have to slow down to be able to breathe again anytime I try to speed up to more than just a brisk walk.
I am also a musician and studied voice for several years. Meaning I know how to breathe deeply and this really shouldn’t be such a problem. In trying to figure out what exactly the problem was, my musician background actually came in handy for more ways than just breathing.
Vocalists have this thing called a passagio. It’s an Italian term for an area of transition between vocal registers. Singing at a comfortable range is different from singing in a much higher register. But to get those higher notes, you have to cross a passagio, which is only about 3 or 4 notes.
Below those 3 or 4 notes is easy to sing. Above those notes are easy to sing. But those few little thorns in the side will get you and make you think you can’t go any higher.
It holds a lot of people back. Which is a shame, because those high notes are incredibly fun to sing.
When I was taking private lessons, we would work on my lower register and my higher register. Once I got the technique down for the two different areas, we started to work on the passagio and making it disappear.
It’s going to be the same thing with running, or anything else I decide to tackle in life. Anything new is going to be hard.
There is always going to be a point that you will feel like you are hitting a wall. It’s going to feel so hard that it feels impossible and you are just done. The thing that no one suspects or realizes is jut how much more they are capable of doing.
Take a jump and go far beyond where you are. You might be surprised that it is actually easier. Cross that passagio. Once you get there- and do well- it suddenly becomes easier to push yourself and accomplish HUGE things.
“When you see yourself succeed, you develop more confidence in your ability to succeed at bigger and bigger things.” ― Benjamin P. Hardy
Pushing past the passagio makes running and singing easier. I’ve also noticed if it holds true for more than one thing, it tends to be true with most things and the same principle applies to just about anything. When you hit a wall, push past it. Go harder, bigger, faster. Whatever it is, it ends up easier than the level you were at.
Once we cross that passagio and hit a wall, that is where training comes it to stretch us beyond even that capability. We are able to do SO much more than we typically think.
Conclusion
I’m the type of person who can listen to amazing stories from people who do these grand things and think, “That’s great for the super-human,” and chalk it up to natural talent jump starting all the hard work. I realize it’s hard work, but they must have had a head start or something, right? Because what they do is impossible. At least that’s what I thought.
My problem was not realizing I am just as strong and powerful and talented. I have that jump start, too. It’s just across a small hiccup that most people don’t realize is there. Move on to the next level past that passagio for the results you have been working for!
Level up!
Call to Action
The biggest road block is not thinking we are capable of pushing past that passagio. Get my free guide to figure out how to turn what is holding you back into your greatest asset.
Get my Free Guide Control Your Story (←Click Here and I’ll send it to you) to figure out where to start and some great tips on how to make that change.
