Fit and Focused With Allison Moyer: Is Your Goal Oriented Lifestyle Holding You Back?
Strive for progress, not perfection. ~unknown
With three
weeks to go until Team Universe, I’m all about my goals- the goal of getting on stage, the immediate goals of getting my cardio in, eating all my meals, training intensely, lifting hard, making sure I get everything done in time for the contest... you name it. As athletes, I think we’re more goal oriented then we realize. We wear HR monitors to the gym, use GPS technology to provide objective data about whether or not we are reaching our goals- or failing. We weigh ourselves. We test body fat. We use fancy training logs to record every possible bit of information that could prove relevant about our workouts: time, distance, strength training exercises, sets, reps, calories burned. We do the same with nutrition- calories in versus calories out, macro nutrient totals, macro nutrient timing. I even have a friend who’s a runner who tracks her SHOE MILEAGE (so she knows when to buy a new pair). No lie. We strain, we struggle, we toil, thinking that all this immediate and long term goal setting will prove beneficial to our mind, body, and spirit.
Now I set goals too, and I’m not advocating you approach life with absolutely no goals and no direction whatsoever- but consider the following- whether the pressure of setting and pursuing goals is actually helping- or worse- hurting? We live in a superficial world where nearly EVERYTHING we do is judged and measured and success ( often too tightly tied to happiness) is often defined by what we can accumulate and achieve, rather then what kind of character we have. For a figure athlete, like myself it boils down to “How did you place?” or “What did you look like?” “Did you place higher than your last show?” All of these interrogations come before what I consider to be even more relevant questions- Did you have fun? Was it a positive experience? Did you do your best? Did you learn or grow as an athlete?
I desperately want my pro card in figure. It’s safe to say I can think of pretty much no earthly thing I’ve wanted more since I first set foot on a figure stage when I was 20 years old. After winning my class at North Americans and narrowly missing my pro card last year, I feel more hungry for it then ever (or maybe that’s just the rumble of my over-dieted tummy), but I think this year I have a more casual, light hearted approach to the whole concept of what it means to compete. It’s not that I take what I do lightly, because I don’t, but rather in backing off the extreme goal setting I was doing, I’ve allowed myself room to breathe, to enjoy the process to the stage in addition to the stage itself. I want to have fun competing, I want to learn about myself, I want to endure, and persevere, and push my limits and conquer the challenges that contest prep brings. I want to inspire and enjoy
time with my clients, and continue to enjoy myself around my friends, my family, and my fiancé. Often times I see the faces of fellow figure athletes- anxious, snapping at loved ones, looking like they aren’t even CLOSE to having fun or experiencing personal growth.
Mind you- I’m well aware, dieting for a show is hard. Some days it flat out sucks and I’m struggling to find the energy (or the willpower) to even get up to cross the living room floor, but at the end of the day I feel it’s simply no fun to predicate your happiness or whether or not you lost 3 lbs or 5 or whether or not you place 1st at a show, or 5th. Failing to reach your goals will lead to disappointment, and consequently dwindling levels of motivation. In fact, even reaching goals can lead to a dead end, flawed mindset. Many “winners” develop a distorted sense of self worth, leaving them vulnerable to up and coming opponents or negligent in their behaviour in mainstream society. They get arrogant, uppity, and downright annoying. What’s worse- their concept of themselves is so tightly bound to “winning” that anything less than first place leaves their spirit (and ego) in shambles.
I know personally I’ve suffered my own version of what is commonly known in endurance sports as the “post marathon blues”. Granted, I didn’t run a marathon, but doing a show darn well feels like it sometimes, and it seems that in the past, on the show day itself, the day I worked so hard to get to, I end up getting that “now what?” feeling that leads to a sense of letdown. Ideally I’d use my physical accomplishment as a catalyst for continued growth, exploration, and challenge, not an excuse to get depressed and stuff my face with everything in sight in the days and weeks after the show. Without a “goal” I feel floundering, lost, unstructured. Life seems confusing, pointless and somewhat meaningless in that suddenly that goal point I had is gone- and now what do I do?
I think we have to take a closer look, as athletes, at our goal setting process, to avoid these pitfalls and attack competing with more of a relaxed, “fun first” approach. That’s not to say that winning isn’t the goal, or that competing somehow loses importance- it doesn’t. I just feel that the process in getting to the stage should be about much more then the stage itself, and if it’s not, you’re setting yourself up for failure in the long run. There are dozens of athletes waiting to compete against you for a pro card, and there can ONLY BE ONE WINNER- so if you don’t find additional reasons to find justification in what you’re doing, you’re tying your sense of self worth to whether or not you leave with that pro card- and if you don’t, your self esteem, confidence, and sense of person takes a serious hit.
By now you’re probably sitting there reading this going- how the HELL do 
I let go of being “goal oriented” when the entire reason I’m doing this crazy whacky diet and training thing is for that ultimate goal of the stage?
I think, when you discard unnecessary pressure in goals that are “achievement” oriented, you can focus your attention on process oriented goals. Goals like having fun, aligning your workouts more with your energy levels, tackling new endeavours, trying new exercises, etc. Great champions seem to have an esteemed ability to blend a process oriented approach with a strong competitive drive to achieve measurable results. It’s okay to aspire to specific results- like winning a contest, losing 5 lbs, and so on, but I don’t think we should ever lose sight of the concept that the rewards stem from the chase, not from reaching the finish line. The joy is in the journey, not the destination. Getting there, means so much more then actually BEING there.
The true sense of achievement comes from hitting that treadmill at 4 a.m while the world is asleep. It comes from stepping on stage knowing you were 100% on your diet, day in and day out. It comes from grunting, and pushing, and challenging yourself in the gym, from driving yourself to work hard even when physically you were exhausted. Contest prep teaches you what you’re truly made of, and shows you how strong you can really be, even when physically you may feel weak. Anyone who goes through that, and makes it to the stage, has achieved victory- whether they leave with a trophy or not. The true joy comes in the transformation of your physique- not through surgery or cosmetics or some freak detox, but from days and weeks and months of solid hard work with your diet and your training.
Make it your goal to make the most out of your contest prep journey- daily, without attachment to any outcome- and I think you’ll find you’ll wind up feeling more successful and more thrilled then any trophy could ever make you feel. Even better- when you do compete and step on stage it won’t just be to compete for that pro card, it will also be to celebrate the amazing, incredible, life altering process you went through to get there.
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