The Afterburn Effect From Accomplishing a Goal
For over a year now, I have been writing down my goals both weekly and daily. On Sunday nights, I write down my top 10 goals for the moment. I try not to look back at any of the other Sunday goal lists and just write what my current goals are. Then, every morning during my Miracle Morning (read my post about my MM), I also write down my goals. Weirdly I started out writing my top five goals but now I write my top six because there was an extra line in the latest notebook I purchased.
I digress.
With all this writing-of-the-goals, you’d think I’d be really cookin‘ and movin‘ along toward accomplishing them all. Well, sadly, you’d be wrong.
It feels so great every morning when I write them down. A focused feeling comes over me and I really feel like I can reach them all and I have great confidence that I’m going to get so much done that day.
However, my days always get away from me, I have a million things to do as a mom, wife, employee, house manager, etc. And I get to the end of the day, or the end of the week, and there sit my goals, same as always and unchanged.
What hasn’t helped is that for the last few years, my motivation has been very lacking and the pandemic did not help the situation. I’ve written on here several times about my un-motivation and feelings of being lost.
Something has finally changed for me lately, and it’s all because I finally reached one of my goals.
A few weeks ago, I completed an officially timed 5K in under 30 minutes. This has been on my goal list for a year and I had been training hard to get there.
Since reaching that goal, I’ve noticed something that I’m calling “The Afterburn”. Several interesting things have happened all because I’ve reached a big goal and I’m hoping to leverage them to reach even more.
First, during this Afterburn, I have had this slight panicked feeling now that I have to choose a new goal. Funny how that works. I’ve been writing and re-writing the same 10 goals for over a year, and when I finally cross one off and get the chance to choose something else, the anxiety shows up. Apparently I’d just rather keep writing the same 10 goals till the grave.
Alas, I did finally just pick something and I’m going with it. I told myself one of my favorite things I like to tell myself when I make a decision. “You can always change your mind.” And this time, it’s actually true, so that has helped me to push myself along.
Another thing I’ve noticed about the Afterburn is that I now feel so empowered to reach my other goals. I figured this would probably be the case, but I never realized how powerful it would be to reach just one goal. I find myself thinking, “Wow, what else can I do?”. I even increased one of my goals to make it even grander. Maybe I was thinking small before, but accomplishing this one goal has really helped me dream.
The Afterburn effect of achieving a goal has also given me reason to rethink some of my excuses that I’ve liked to use when I’m not making any progress on a goal. When my progress is slow, my number one favorite excuse to use is that I don’t have enough time.
I want to catch up and get ahead on my blog writing? Nope, no time.
I want to work on some certifications that would help me advance my career? No way, how could I possibly fit all that studying in?
I want to finally learn how to play the piano? Practicing takes up too much time, there’s just no way.
Except, apparently, there is a way, Somehow, for over three months, I found a way to make sure I fit in up to three runs a week to improve my running times. Three runs, with at least 30-45 minutes dedicated to each run (get ready, warm up, run, cool down, log the run) adds up to a good chunk of time that I dedicated to that one goal each week.
So now, when I think that I don’t have time, I can call BS on myself because I know I can fit anything in if it’s a priority. Also, since I’m cutting down on my running time right now to focus on other workouts, I know I have some of that time freed up and available for my other goals. No time is just no excuse for me anymore.
It’s amazing what reaching just one goal can do. My biggest recommendation is to write down your goals daily (or at minimum – weekly). Select the goal that you think you can reach sooner than the others, and then give all your energy and time to meeting that one goal.
Once you do, you will be amazing by the Afterburn Effect that will help launch you into reaching all of your other goals.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below – what is that one goal that you are going to go full force on to reach and get to the Afterburn??
