Imagine this… you’re talking to a young boy and you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up.  He says, “Oh, that’s easy!  I want to be a ninja and a cowboy and an astronaut and a baseball player!”

            Generally we just laugh stuff like this off.  Not just because a ninja-cowboy-astronaut-baseball player would look ridiculous, but because he’s just a kid and doesn’t yet realize that he’s going to have to focus on something.

            Wait a second!  What makes you think you’re so smart?  You can see how a little kid will need to learn to focus on something as he grows up, but you haven’t learned that yourself.  No, I’m not talking about your job.  People do this with fitness goals all the time.  But instead of a ninja-cowboy-astronaut-baseball player, they want to be a Bodybuilder-Powerlifter-Olympic lifter-Strongman.  And that’s probably not all!  Or for the more traditionally oriented fitness crowd, they probably want to lose a large amount of fat and gain a significant amount of muscle, which wouldn’t be a big deal by itself, but they want to do it in about 8 weeks.  And even that seems like too long!  “Wait, can’t I have it in 15 minutes?”

            Look, there’s a lot you can learn from the career-path-confused little boy.  And it’s time that most of us start learning.  I work with lots of people.  Some are active competitors and some are not.  If they do compete, the goals are usually much simpler – improve competition results.  If they don’t compete, that’s when the Goal-ADD sometimes comes in to play.  Often, I will ask the question and say, “Do you realize that by focusing on so many goals, we won’t be able to get really good at any one thing, right?”  The response is usually along the lines of, “Yes, I’m okay with just being decent at all of those things.

            Let me ask you this.  Imagine a cowboy who spends his time at the ranch.  But then after working all day, one night a week, he has baseball practice.  Another night each week, he goes to the dojo and practices being a ninja.  And then a couple other nights, he drives down to NASA and trains to be an astronaut.  Would you say that he would be a decent ninja?  I know it sounds like a ridiculous question, but just hang with me.  Would he be a decent ninja?  Probably not, since mastery in martial arts, or any of his other chosen skills is a lifetime achievement.  Even “decency” at those skills will require a significant amount of dedication.

            Another issue with the Goal-ADD mindset is that it would be difficult even if we had plenty of resources to work with.  The same people who usually exhibit these behaviors also tend to be those who work 70-hour work weeks and can only devote the minimum amount of time possible.

            Near my home there is a restaurant with an arcade inside.  You play the games and win tickets based on how well you do.  At the end of the night, you count up your tickets and you can use them to buy some small toy from the cashier.  If you spend a few dollars and an hour or so, you might rack up 100 tickets.  As you’re checking out, you look to see what prizes you can get.  They usually have tiers of prizes you can buy.  The cheap ones might be 5 tickets, but they are usually pretty crappy prizes too.  Like an eraser.  That’s right.  Nothing says “winner” like an eraser.  Or you can spend 40-50 tickets on something slightly less crappy like a kush ball or a yoyo.  Of course, they always have some super-prize back there too, like a RC car something, but that’s like 30,000 tickets.

            Your training goals are like buying these toys.  You can spend your 100 tickets on 20 different things, but you’re going to end up with 20 erasers.  Woopie.  Or you can spend your tickets on only a couple things that are a little better.  Of course, you can have that RC car as well, which would be super awesome.  BUT, you are going to need some things first….

            Just in case you’re not tracking the metaphor so far, if you want “the RC car”, that’s a crown-jewel achievement.  Like winning a major competition or something, depending on the sport.  So what does it take if that’s what you want?  Well, like I said, that will be 30,000 tickets.  So where do you get that many tickets?

            The first thing it will take is some cash to invest in your goals.  You can’t win tickets without playing the games, and you can’t play the games without a quarter to put in the machine.  Similarly, if you want to be a national champion Powerlifter, you’ll need a gym membership, cash for entry fees, and probably other equipment as well.  It doesn’t have to be a fortune, but spending some of your money to get to your goals is probably going to be required.

            The next thing it takes is some skill.  It’s easier to get to your 30,000 ticket goal if you’re winning 30 at a game instead of the single-ticket “thanks for playing” consolation prize.  So you practice and put in the work to develop your skills.  Even so, you still won’t win 1000 at a stretch.  It’s just not set up that way.  So it takes time.  Again, your training goals are the same way.  Practice and develop your skills so you can make good progress.  And even when you do make good progress, be prepared to put in time.  It won’t happen overnight.  You don’t build a great lift in one workout.  Heck, if it’s worth achieving, it probably won’t happen in 6 months.  That might be painful to hear, but it’s true.  If you want an awesome prize, you have to put in the time it takes to earn it.  In most cases, this will be significantly more time than you thought at the outset of your journey.

            And, as the name of this article implies, it also takes focus.  At the end of the day if you’re spending your tickets on erasers, you’ll never get to the big prize of the RC car.  Similarly, if you spend your days running, you’ll never get more muscular.  Or if you spend your days doing curls, you’re never going to be able to bench press with the best. 

            I don’t mean to imply that any one goal is fundamentally more valuable than another.  If you really want an eraser, then by all means get one.  But some goals do take more work and preparation than others.  I’m just suggesting that you go into it with both eyes open, committed to do what you set out to do.  If you do that, at least you won’t become disillusioned somewhere about half way there.

            In the end it’s your time, your body, and your resources so do with them what you wish.  If you want to be a jack-of-all-trades, that’s fine.  But it would be unreasonable for you to expect that it will happen quickly or that your progress on any one portion of your many goals would match the pace set forth by your other more focused competitors.  And you can also expect to plateau sooner since you won’t be doing the concentrated work required for continued progress.  If you don’t believe me, maybe you should spend some more time at the arcade.

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