When is a goal complete?
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The reason why I said consistently is because I don't understand the point in reaching the goal if you're not going to push yourself. Are you aiming to do 20 and then stop forever, or are you going to aim for ~25 after that? If my goal is to run 10K, I'm not going to run 9.5K and then stop because the goal isn't reached but, also, once I've ran 10K I'm not going to stop running altogether... Using the example of the person who wants to bench-press their body weight, they don't want to do it once and then stop lifting weights because it's "done".
If you can do 19 then that's great, you're nearly at your goal. I don't see why you're viewing it as a failure since you're on your way. It's only a failure if you've given up. But if you do 20 once and then stop practicing, next time you pick up the rope you won't be able to do it any more, so what was the point in the goal? Maintenance, of weight/BF%/NSVs is just as important as reaching them.0 -
So it appears that I am the only one who thinks the spirit of some goals is enough...
However I do have to disagree with this comment personallyIf you can't do 20 consistently and consecutively, your goal isnt reached.
Mainly because some of my physcial goals are one-time goals. Just to say that I successfully finished one.
So I guess I'll try one set for my 20 double-unders before I call my first failed physical goal....
It doesn't matter if it's 19 or 20. I agree with you, OP> It's the spirit of the goal. You probably just chose 20 because it's a nice, round number. If you are ready to move on, then do so. Don't let other people decide your goals for you.
You own you!
I don't think anyone is trying to decide the OPs goals. She asked our opinion and most of us have a different opinion than the OP...that is all.
Funny thing is...this is what you wrote..."You probably just chose 20 because it's a nice, round number." You accuse us of deciding the OPs goals while you decide the intent of her words.0 -
Maybe you are meaning target instead of goal? a goal is definite, a target is a little more flexible. You hit an average of 17.6 of your target, or 88%. If that is satisfactory to you, then by all means call it complete! It's kind of like having a target weight, and a goal weight. My target weight is 145, but my goal weight is 155. Both are in my healthy weight range, so when I reach 155, if my body is where I want it to be and I am healthy, I won't really feel like I HAVE TO lose the last 10 pounds, because I am in my target range.
In your case, if you said that you had a target of 20, and got 19, or averaged 17.6, it isn't a bullseye but it is in target range. If you wanted to add that your goal was 15 and your target was 20, then yes complete!
Just don't let definitions of words discourage you from setting goals/targets and achieving them. You're doing great!
Good comment. I'm imagining being at a shooting range and telling the guy, "I can't leave until I hit the bullseye X amount of times. I'm cheating myself if I go one under that number! :laugh:
For some things, a number is hard and fast, but for personal health and fitness, it's all relative. Improvement is what matters, not X number of *insert exercise* by X days.0 -
So it appears that I am the only one who thinks the spirit of some goals is enough...
However I do have to disagree with this comment personallyIf you can't do 20 consistently and consecutively, your goal isnt reached.
Mainly because some of my physcial goals are one-time goals. Just to say that I successfully finished one.
So I guess I'll try one set for my 20 double-unders before I call my first failed physical goal....
It doesn't matter if it's 19 or 20. I agree with you, OP> It's the spirit of the goal. You probably just chose 20 because it's a nice, round number. If you are ready to move on, then do so. Don't let other people decide your goals for you.
You own you!
I don't think anyone is trying to decide the OPs goals. She asked our opinion and most of us have a different opinion than the OP...that is all.
Funny thing is...this is what you wrote..."You probably just chose 20 because it's a nice, round number." You accuse us of deciding the OPs goals while you decide the intent of her words.
That's called common sense. Most people pick a round number. She can correct me if I'm wrong.
You're free to your opinion, I'm just telling OP that the opinion of others is irrelevant because her journey should be for her, not for any of us. Each of us has to make our own choices. Nothing will happen to any of us if she does 19 instead of 20, or if she does none at all.0 -
You're free to your opinion, I'm just telling OP that the opinion of others is irrelevant because her journey should be for her, not for any of us. Each of us has to make our own choices. Nothing will happen to any of us if she does 19 instead of 20, or if she does none at all.
Exactly, but the entire point of the thread is that she asked for our opinions. Yeh, it doesn't matter if we don't agree with her and she can stop at 19 if that's what she wants to do but we're just expressing our opinions, as was asked.0 -
The reason why I said consistently is because I don't understand the point in reaching the goal if you're not going to push yourself. Are you aiming to do 20 and then stop forever, or are you going to aim for ~25 after that? If my goal is to run 10K, I'm not going to run 9.5K and then stop because the goal isn't reached but, also, once I've ran 10K I'm not going to stop running altogether... Using the example of the person who wants to bench-press their body weight, they don't want to do it once and then stop lifting weights because it's "done".
If you can do 19 then that's great, you're nearly at your goal. I don't see why you're viewing it as a failure since you're on your way. It's only a failure if you've given up. But if you do 20 once and then stop practicing, next time you pick up the rope you won't be able to do it any more, so what was the point in the goal? Maintenance, of weight/BF%/NSVs is just as important as reaching them.
The point of the goal *was* to push herself. She went from ZERO to 19. It's called consistent improvement. For some people, improvement *is* the spirit of all our fitness goals. If someone were a professional competitor, then their goals would be different. There is nothing wrong or weird about the OP's goals.
I don't know why that's so hard to understand. It makes perfect sense to me.0 -
You're free to your opinion, I'm just telling OP that the opinion of others is irrelevant because her journey should be for her, not for any of us. Each of us has to make our own choices. Nothing will happen to any of us if she does 19 instead of 20, or if she does none at all.
Exactly, but the entire point of the thread is that she asked for our opinions. Yeh, it doesn't matter if we don't agree with her and she can stop at 19 if that's what she wants to do but we're just expressing our opinions, as was asked.
True, and what's this point of your comment here? Since you completely missed mine, I assume you have some point other than to state the obvious...right? Hopefully?0 -
While I intend to hit my goals (my weight is there), I want to bench press my own body weight, and do 20 clean pull ups. I would count any gains in that direction as an accomplishment but not a goal. However, I will be thrilled when I get close to benching my body weight and am able to do 15 clean pull ups.My joy will not be diminished by not hitting my set goal. That said, I may change my goals. I may decide 15 pull ups and 10lbs short of my body weight is my NEW goal and be just as happy.I agree with being flexible about goals/targets.0
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If you set a solid number to reach and haven't reached it, then goal isn't complete. Lots of people have a tendency to confuse effort with actual results. That's seems the case here.Alright so I had this discussion on Facebook with a friend. We ended up agreeing to disagree, but I wanted some other takes on it.
When exactly is a non-scale goal complete? Every month I set a different goal of something I would like to be physically able to do. This month it was to complete 20 consecutive double-unders with a jump rope. Today I managed to do the following sets of double-unders: 19, 17, 15, 19, and 18. I am calling the goal complete because the spirit of the goal has been achieved. While I did not in fact do 20 consecutive double-unders, I managed to make it almost to the “magic” number 5 times in a row. On April 1, I could not do a single double-under. She says that I am cheating myself, that my goal should not be considered complete.
Now I agree that some goals are concrete goals (like getting off of medication), but do you interpret some of your goals based on the spirit or do you feel that it has to be concrete?
Either way, I am STILL calling it a goal completed. But I wanted to see what the consensus was…
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If you set a solid number to reach and haven't reached it, then goal isn't complete. Lots of people have a tendency to confuse effort with actual results. That's seems the case here.Alright so I had this discussion on Facebook with a friend. We ended up agreeing to disagree, but I wanted some other takes on it.
When exactly is a non-scale goal complete? Every month I set a different goal of something I would like to be physically able to do. This month it was to complete 20 consecutive double-unders with a jump rope. Today I managed to do the following sets of double-unders: 19, 17, 15, 19, and 18. I am calling the goal complete because the spirit of the goal has been achieved. While I did not in fact do 20 consecutive double-unders, I managed to make it almost to the “magic” number 5 times in a row. On April 1, I could not do a single double-under. She says that I am cheating myself, that my goal should not be considered complete.
Now I agree that some goals are concrete goals (like getting off of medication), but do you interpret some of your goals based on the spirit or do you feel that it has to be concrete?
Either way, I am STILL calling it a goal completed. But I wanted to see what the consensus was…
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
She stated that 20 wasn't intended to be a solid number from the beginning. That's what "the spirit of the goal" is all about. From her comments, she seems to be focused on improvement, and from her profile, her long-term goal is the Air Force fitness. I don't know if that includes "down-unders" (Hell, I don't even know what a "down-under" even is.) But she seemed to make it clear, at least to me, that the number 20 wasn't intended to be concrete.0 -
I agree with this. You definitely have not failed your goal, and consistently getting close as opposed to one fluke time of being able to do it is fantastic.I wouldn't call it a fail...just a goal not reached yet...failure is when you stop trying.
I don't agree with consistently and consecutively either...for certian goals it is what it is...
I mean my goal of Bench BW will be consistently but hopefully only once as I will go up...
And for things like BF%...you want to hit that goal and stay...
Perhaps you have not "met" your goal, but definitely continue to work on improving. Your goal for next month is obviously not going to be 20 double unders because you haven't met it yet; you're right there, so you will blow past that in a few days. Make it higher and keep working on it.
You've made fabulous progress, and you should definitely be proud of what you've accomplished!0 -
Actually it was stated that that was her goal this month. And only just to do it once. A double under is having a jump rope pass twice under your feet on a single jump.She stated that 20 wasn't intended to be a solid number from the beginning.
I get the "spirit" part. But as I mentioned earlier, if a solid goal was set and wasn't reached, then goal wasn't reached.
If a couple's goal is to get pregnant, and does all the right things to ALMOST do it, it still wasn't reached. If a football teams goal is to win the Superbowl and loses by 1 point, goal wasn't reached. In both cases, lack of effort wasn't the problem. They both may have even gotten better with more repetition. But in both cases the goal wasn't reached.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Wow a lot of responses while I was away from the computer. I'll go through for direct responses on some, but would like to modify my phrase...This is not a failure, it was progress. Thanks for calling me out on that one.
Calling this an aim for the moon, landing in the stars movement for the month.
:drinker: Except that my second attempt today I got 20, 24, 22, 19, and 21...so goal achieved. :drinker:0 -
If you set a solid number to reach and haven't reached it, then goal isn't complete. Lots of people have a tendency to confuse effort with actual results. That's seems the case here.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
She stated that 20 wasn't intended to be a solid number from the beginning. That's what "the spirit of the goal" is all about. From her comments, she seems to be focused on improvement, and from her profile, her long-term goal is the Air Force fitness. I don't know if that includes "down-unders" (Hell, I don't even know what a "down-under" even is.) But she seemed to make it clear, at least to me, that the number 20 wasn't intended to be concrete.
The number was not intended to be concrete, but it was written that way. If I had written the goal as improve my double-unders, I would have stopped at 3 I am still going to work on my double-unders, but am moving onto a new focus. 0 -
You're free to your opinion, I'm just telling OP that the opinion of others is irrelevant because her journey should be for her, not for any of us. Each of us has to make our own choices. Nothing will happen to any of us if she does 19 instead of 20, or if she does none at all.
Exactly, but the entire point of the thread is that she asked for our opinions. Yeh, it doesn't matter if we don't agree with her and she can stop at 19 if that's what she wants to do but we're just expressing our opinions, as was asked.
^^^This. It was an opinion question.0 -
So...IMHO...LOL
If the goal was 20 then I would not consider it complete for myself.0 -
The reason why I said consistently is because I don't understand the point in reaching the goal if you're not going to push yourself. Are you aiming to do 20 and then stop forever, or are you going to aim for ~25 after that?
Two parts to this:
The consistently bugs me for some of my goals...like run a half marathon. Only need to do that once (just to prove to myself I can do it). Or finish an triathlon.
And the second part is NO I'm not stopping forever. It was a goal for a months improvement to be able to complete 20 consecutive double-unders. I'm sure that double-unders will be a focus goal again further down the road, but each month I change my focus to build myself as a more rounded athlete. Last month (March) was consistently hit a certain depth on squats. May is to move from the 12 inch box to the 18.5 inch box on my box jumps.0 -
IMO if the goal was 20 consecutive double unders than that is the goal and until you have done exactly that it's not complete.
This.0 -
The consistently bugs me for some of my goals...like run a half marathon. Only need to do that once (just to prove to myself I can do it). Or finish an triathlon.
So....if you run that half marathon, but only make it 13 miles and not the 13.1, is that goal complete?
I think if you set a number, then that number is your goal. It would be different if you said "I want to do more than I can do now". Then, 19 is definitely more than 0. When I was in counseling though, I was told to set a goal not related to the scale, but make that goal firm and specific. In other words, "I want to be better" is not a good goal. "I want to run 13.1 miles" IS a good goal because it's specific. Once I run 13.1 miles, my goal is complete.0 -
The purpose of a goal is to give yourself something to aim for. I wouldn't consider 19 as completing the goal. You made it 20 for a reason. Keep pushing yourself to get to 20, and celebrate when you get there. Until then, feel free to feel awesome for getting so close, but you haven't reached your goal.0
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