Cover Photo by Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash
Can You Handle It To Reach Your Most Insane Goals?
We all have big goals, wether they be short term or long term. Goals that, even in our wildest dreams, would seem unachievable.
We dream about them yet never act on them, simply because we “failed” once or twice in the past.
The truth is, we just weren’t ready for the obsession needed to reach them.
“There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession.” — Conor McGregor
I have to agree with Conor.
Think about a goal you set yourself and “failed”.
Why did you not “succeed”?
Did you REALLY do what was needed to accomplish it?
Were you obsessed with figuring how to do it, came up with a solid plan and executed consistently?
Frankly, not a lot of people can handle it. On some projects I work on, I know I’m not obsessed enough. I know I don’t do what’s really need to succeed.
But here’s something that worked incredibly well and contributed greatly to building my momentum:
Gaining 5kg of muscles in a month
Back in January, I decided it was time for me to put on 5kg of muscles. I have my own reasons for that, but that’s not the point of this story.
Notice how precise I was.
Not just “some” mass.
Precisely 5kg. I original decided for 4.5kg, but you know, why not push myself even harder!
Be precise in your goals!
I’m an ectomorph, so gaining even 1kg in a month is hard work. So imagine how insane 5kg is! Hard for non-ectomorphs to comprehend this, but it’s at least as hard as losing 5kg for a mesomorph.
Planning
Here’s the summary of my 8 hour manic research:
I need to eat at least 4k calories per day, split at about 40/40/20 for proteins/carbs/fat. I’m aiming for 4.5k.
Those calories need to come from high quality foods.
I need to do full-body workouts, 3 times per week.
I planned every meals I would eat for the month. Sounds easy but it’s not!
I obsessed over every little detail. I looked up all the nutrition facts for each ingredients I would put in my dishes. I had to know where the calories came from! Heck, I’m even eating broccoli for its benefits!
I came up with 3 meals, 2 snacks and 2 shakes I would eat/drink every day, leading to 4,506 calories.
It’s basically 642.86 calories every 2 hours.
I was obsessive enough that I was willing to eat the same 3 meals for a month, for the sake of achieving that insane goal.
Isn’t that crazy?
Have you ever done something to that level of obsession?
Execution
That part was beyond hard.
With all that food, I’m always close to throwing up. It’s way too much for my 56kg body to handle.
Heck, Dwayne Johnson needs about the same to maintain his weight. That guy’s a beast.
In theory, I need 2036 calories to maintain my weight. So it’s more than double at 4,500 calories!
Not matter how big you are, I bet 4,500 is not easy for you either; nor would you want that unless you’re an ectomorph like me, trying to gain so mass.
That workout was no walk-in-the-park either.
It was REALLY intense!
I very much struggled to even do half of it. Lifting a pen or going up/down the stairs afterwards was shamefully painful.
Be honest with yourself, is that the intensity you have when working out?
Like the famous idiom says: “No pain, no gain”. It’s the truth.
“The thing about truth is, not a lot of people can handle it.” — Conor McGregor
Saying “no”
One of the hardest part was saying “no” to things I would normally say “yes” to.
At a going-away party for a friend, I drank nothing, except for water. I had a strict no-alcohol policy for this month; it defeated the purposes of eating healthy and was very counter-intuitive to my goal.
I also had to say “no” to going out to dinner where there would be nothing I could eat, or quantify stealthily enough not to look insane.
I have to let friends down for this month. Social pressure is hard but I persevere.
Do you have the courage to temporarily say “no” to things or people you care about in order to achieve your most insane goals?
Are you ready to handle the obsession?
Are you ready to fantasize about precision on all aspects of your goal?
Are you ready to do things that TRULY push the limits of your body and mind?
Are you ready to disappoint people you care about?
Can you handle the obsession needed to reach your most insane goals?
You can do this!
Thanks for reading! :)