Goal Setting Is Not Enough. You Need Ass Movers, Too.

As your brain cells have probably concocted through visual observation, my ass was struggling to get up that pole. The pic is from the pathetic pole climbing blog post where I boldly proclaimed…

“I double-dare myself to get to the top of that dang pole. It may take a month. It may takes six months. It better not take a year.”

Over two years later, and I still haven’t made it up that damn pole. I barely even tried.

It was a goal, but I didn’t have a plan of attack. This so-called goal was really nothing more than a stank brain fart of an idea. And it went stagnant inside my cranium, collecting rotten maggot residue and other offensive non-actions.

BUT WHY?

Because I never put expectations on myself, nor did I hold myself accountable to achieve it. There’s obviously is a difference between a real goal and a stank brain fart. Obviously.

But what sets the two apart?

Expectations and Accountability.  These are the two powerhouses that MUST be in the mix. I call them “ass movers”, because they get your ass moving closer to your goals. Expectations get you taking action, because anything less would be unacceptable, and Accountability obligates you to follow through ‘lest you have to face up to explaining why you didn’t.

Yet I dare to say most of us place higher expectations on other people than we do on ourselves. If other people (spouse, kids, co-worker, friend, etc) don’t meet our expectations, we have a bitch fit, complain to others about it, hold them accountable for it and demand they get their shit together and not fluck up again. Tell me I’m wrong. No?

But on ourselves? Do you demand you get your shit together right then and there? Or it is a more lackadaisical approach where you get around to doing better. Eventually.

When you fluck up, treat yourself as you would someone else you have expectations of. Don’t whine and get wussy and curl into a ball of supposed failure. Get pissed about it. Even get a little mad. Call it “contained fury”, if you will. Then translate that fury into ass-moving actions.

Pole climbing is no longer a goal of mine, but the goals I do have are infested with expectations and accountability. So now it’s your turn. Put on a pair of ass movers and git to it!

Ps. Don’t just read this post and then go off somewhere to pick up your nostrils or braid your armpit hairs. You need to seriously be thinking of what Expectations and Accountability mean in the grand plan of your goals.

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