"If you aim at nothing, you hit nothing."

If you aim at nothing, you hit nothing. Now I know that kind of sounds obvious, but it was about, I'm guessing around 2 or so years ago now, um, I went to see the Shang-Chi movie. And it's an okay movie, one of the Marvel ones. It was all right, nothing spectacular, but worth a watch. But out of the whole movie, the one single thing that I actually really remember that stuck with me the whole time and that continues to crop up is this particular quote: if you aim at nothing, you hit nothing. Now, the reason it stuck with me is because at the time when I went to see the movie, I had— well, I always have goals, as you guys have probably realized by now, but I, I had some goals set and they're, they're pretty big and so on. But it hit me because I realized that there was no real clarity or definition around what I was actually aiming for. So I kind of felt a bit like I was on the fucking hamster wheel, you know, doing, doing, doing, doing all the work, trying to move towards this thing, but feeling like I wasn't really getting anywhere. It's like you're running around, you know how it is in maybe in business or in life where you're running around, you're trying to spin all the plates and you're like, cool, if I can just get all the plates to spin at the same time, life will be great. But the catch is that doesn't happen because by the time you get to one plate and you set another one and you get that one going and then they're all falling off and all the rest of it. And it's because often we have set a target that has no actual end. So for me at the time, and as an idea it's still what I'm looking for, my idea or my goal was I want time and location freedom. So time and location freedom is a great goal. It's a goal that many people have that I, that I know. And it's like, yeah, I want time and location freedom. Essentially I want the the ability to be wherever I want, do what I want, go where I want, when I want. Cool. So that's it in a nutshell. The problem is it is so broad and so open to interpretation that there was nothing that I was actually able to aim towards specifically. There was no specific tangible that I could measure to prove to me that this thing now existed. So essentially, I was aiming at nothing and therefore hitting nothing, just constantly spinning my wheels and getting nowhere fast. So what we need to do is sometimes look at our goals and say, well, am I just chasing a concept? Now we see this in body where we get people who, oh, I just want to lose weight. Okay, cool. You just want to lose weight. What does that mean? Because you're going to go to bed tonight at a particular weight and in the morning you're going to wake up anywhere between, say, 1 and maybe 2.5 kilos less. Just due to the water vapor that you would have lost through respiration. So there's your weight loss done. Now that, of course, is why we have to be careful and put specifics on it, because if it's just a case of, oh, I want to lose weight, well, in that case, let's do a weight cut like elite fighters do and elite competitive weightlifters and so on. They will do a weight cut where they lose anywhere, depending on their particular weight class, anywhere between 10 and maybe even up to 30, 35 pounds in roughly a 7 to 10 day period. And then guess what? They've lost weight. They weigh in at their particular weight. But the catch is they obviously gain it all back the next day once they begin to rehydrate and start fueling themselves properly again. So we need to be careful about what am I chasing here? Am I chasing a concept or am I chasing a specific outcome? Because when we actually clarify exactly what it is we're looking for, that gives us the clarity that we need around these specific actions that we need to take. So for myself with this, oh, I just want time and location freedom, I actually had to clarify exactly what that meant for me. Now, at the same time as wanting time and location freedom, I want to be able to do what I want when I want. That's a nice idea, But the truth is, in reality, you can't really have that, especially when you run your own business, especially when you've got kids, especially when you've got a partner and so on. So what you have, though, around that is I want to be able to do pretty much what I want when I want, outside of the times that I obviously have to work and coach clients and so on, outside of the time that I have to look after my child and my partner. And I've just noticed I keep knocking the camera and it's wobbling all over the place. But that's another story. So we have to get clear because, like, for myself, it's one thing to want an idea, but if there's nothing tangible to chase, then, like I say, you end up just spinning your wheels. So in the end, I had to get clear on what does that mean for me specifically, at least right now, because in time it can evolve and change and expand and so on. But what I came down to in the end when I looked at this was, okay, cool, so You want time and location freedom. What does that mean? Oh, I'd like to be able to have a holiday whenever I want. Okay, cool. How many holidays? I guess for now, 3 to 4 a year. Cool. So I want to be able to go on 3 to 4 holidays a year. Brilliant. Now, in terms of work hours, what does that mean? Obviously, you want time and location freedom. What does that mean in your business? Oh, well, that means in reality, having a fixed premises isn't necessarily the ideal way to do it. I could do it that way, but that would then mean having to train up different members of staff and so on and bring in a team to take over what I'm doing. Or the other option is I can move my business online. So, okay, cool. So now we've got— you want several holidays a year, you've got to— or you want to move your business into the online space because now then you can coach people from anywhere in the world. And what else do we need with it? What else do we need? Okay, so I need a business that's generating More income than I currently have. Okay, no problem. Where would you like to be? Let's say $20K a month. Okay, cool. Well, now we've got a specific that you can aim for. And the catch is, prior to setting down some of these specifics, as I say, it's very difficult for me to know exactly which actions to take. I always felt busy, I always felt productive, but I was never actually getting to where I wanted to go. Yes, I was earning good money and and the business was ticking over and I had clients coming in and we're serving them and they're getting good results. That's cool, but it's still not actually producing the end result that I want. So that's where sometimes, as I mentioned, we have to get clear on what exactly does your concept mean? Oh, I want more money. Okay, great, you want more money, that's brilliant. But how much? By when? How do you want to earn this money? Is it through your current job? Is it through a side hustle? Is it the fact that you're gonna start your own business? What's happening here? Okay, you're gonna start your own business, brilliant. What type of business is it going to be? Is it a product-based business? Is it experience-based business? Is it service-based business? Okay, cool, you want a service-based business, brilliant. Okay, and what type of service are you offering? Is it accounting? Is it soliciting? Is it coaching in the health? Is it coaching in business? Like, there are a million different options, but of course we have to get specific about what we want, how we want to produce the result that we want, Because if we don't actually get clear, one, we don't know which actions to take, but we also often end up serving other people's goals and ideas. So often the thing about, oh, I'd like more money, is because we see other people with more money and assume they automatically have a better life or a more fun and fulfilled life. So therefore I want and I need more money too, so that I can be happier and more fulfilled and have more fun. And of course, money could definitely be part of that equation. But sometimes we can actually have many of the outcomes that we want, either with just a simple reframe in our mind, or what we can have instead is we find that we can get there without having to take the same specific path as somebody else did, someone else that we perceive as having what we want. There might be a better way that serves us better based on our own individual unique personality and character type. Now, of course, The potential for that is vast because we're all so different. But sometimes just because a way worked for somebody else doesn't mean it will work exactly for you, which is why we need to focus on principles. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the tactics and, oh, they did these particular things. It's no different from in coaching with myself and my clients. You know, ultimately we're all trying to get to an ideal diet for each individual. But sometimes the way we have to get there has to differ based on each client's physiology, each client's preferences, and so on. So it's all right for me to go, oh, well, you need at least 2 pounds of protein, and ideally the majority of that protein comes from animal foods. But if you're somebody that can't stomach animal foods, or if at the moment you have an enzyme deficiency that means you can't break down proteins properly, and so on, sometimes things need to be tweaked. And then of course, once your body is in a position where it's able to now do this specific tactic, maybe that's something you'll introduce into your lifestyle, or maybe you'll find a new way that actually works better and serves you better during the process. Now, I say during the process because often we need experience to tell us what's right. It's one thing to have knowledge that says, oh, do this in this particular way, but often once we engage in that knowledge, what we find is, oh, well, actually, that's all well and good and the knowledge was great, but it actually works better for me in this particular way, which is when we apply experience to it because we've now tried to implement it, we found which way works best for us, and then ultimately what we're left with is wisdom, wisdom of self, what works best for us, and that helps us get to exactly where we're going. So which is why I keep going on about in this video we need to have a specific target we're looking for, because if we aim for nothing, again, we hit nothing. So that's it for tonight's video, guys. Just have a think before you kind of leave this and get clear with yourself about, well, what are my goals? Are they specific and tangible enough for me to actually reach them, or have I just set ideas or concepts that sound good and are attractive but maybe don't have anything real about them that I can specifically aim for because they're so broad, so vast and maybe less tangible, it's very difficult sometimes for us to take a specific action and move forward. So get clear on them, bring things down, narrow it down, get real clear and specific. Okay, you want to lose weight. How much? By when? Is that specifically from body fat or is it just that you're too big in general? With that weight that you're looking to lose, is there a specific body fat percentage that you can lose? Or is it a case if you're not really bothered about the weight but you want to shape— change the shape of your body? So maybe instead of chasing weight loss, you're going to change— or sorry, you're going to chase the transformation in the size and shape of your body. So maybe you'll do measurements instead, as in circumference measurements of the waist, the thighs, the hips, the arms, the chest, and so on, because maybe that's a better way to keep you accountable than jumping on the scale every 1 to 2 weeks to find out if you're losing weight, which could be good weight loss or bad weight loss. We never know until we do specific body fat percentage testing and lean mass testing and so on as well. So let me know in the comments, guys, where are you kind of at right now with your goals? Are your goals set too big? Are they too broad and too vast? Or have you been very good at getting clear about exactly what it is you want and where you're going? So therefore you are very, very certain and sure about what specific actions you need to take in order to crush your goals out here in 2024. Thanks for watching, people, and I look forward to chatting with you all in my next video.