UNREALISTIC GOALS CAN BREED SUCCESS

We’ve all been told since elementary school to set goals for ourselves. The gold standard is to establish realistic goals for both the near and long terms. While this is a great place to start, you will inevitably put a ceiling over your head if this is the only approach you take… You will limit your success if you don’t allow your goals to extend beyond what is realistic. My advice: set unrealistic goals or suffer the consequences of living in the realm of “possible”.

This is my story… I’m a 24-year-old natural physique pro competitor and one of the newest members to the RIVALUS team. It took me 5 years of hard work to get here. I’ll be honest, it was not easy and it most definitely was not a linear path. When I fell in love with fitness back in 2013, I wrote down a list of goals in my notebook. The list went something like: “Put on 20 pounds of muscle… Get a shredded six-pack… Bench press 225 pounds…” For a 155-pound former hockey player, it was a lofty set of goals I’d set for myself. I had next-to-no knowledge of fitness or nutrition aside from training like a bro and eating clean foods.

Another goal that was nestled in my list was “Get sponsored by a supplement company.” Let me first say, I was a newbie to the supplement game. I had just recently purchased some protein powder and a pre-workout formula because I knew supplements were important and would help me reach my goals. That was it. I had seen pictures in magazines of some of the biggest names in bodybuilding like Kai Greene & Dexter Jackson. I knew they had supplement sponsors and I thought to myself, “I want that.” I didn’t know why I wanted it, but I did. If any of my friends had seen that list of goals, they probably would’ve laughed in my face… and their laughed may have been justified. I was a skinny kid with next to no muscle and I wanted a supplement sponsor.

Little did I know that my passion and knowledge for fitness would grow exponentially or that my body would transform into one I always dreamed of. Supplements were a constant throughout. They were something that I relied on and the goal was still to become a sponsored athlete by a company I believed in and trusted. Along the way, I obviously learned some products are good, some are bad, some taste HORRIBLE and some are way too damn expensive. It didn’t take long for me to start sussing out the good brands from the bad ones. Hit the fast forward button and here I am with a former “unrealistic” goal of mine achieved. I definitely bet on myself and now I have an innovative brand that I’m so proud to represent and grow with hopefully for a long time to come.

There are a lot of take home messages from my story, but this is the one I want to resonate with you: If you set “unrealistic” and “impossible” goals, you will open up a whole other echelon of opportunities for yourself. One day, those unrealistic goals will become possible and another day not too long after that, you will have achieved your goal and then some. So, the next time you set a goal for yourself, think bigger and better, and set yourself up for unrealistic success in the future.

#TEAMRIVALUS