Why You'll NEVER Reach Your Goal

When I was a kid, I wanted to be like Goku.

(I’d still like to be, if I’m being honest.)

His strength and kindness were and are inspiring to me.

I’ll never be as strong as Goku (and I’ll definitely never be as kind as Goku), but that didn’t stop me from trying.

Part of the reason why I got into resistance training to begin with was because of the high-gravity room that Goku had trained in.

Never before has a fictional character worked so hard for his strength.

His drive borders on insanity, but I absolutely respect it, and it’s pushed me to do better.

(Fun fact: the Ultra Instinct theme has been on my gym playlist for years.)

I literally feel more powerful when I imagine myself as Goku (or Vegeta, really, but that’s for a different time).

And that’s the case for many kids, teens, and adults.

But how are we supposed to compete with an alien who has seemingly infinite muscle fibers?

Some may think it’s childish or useless to choose a goal that’s impossible or to look up to a fictional character.

Those people are missing the point.

Think of the saying: “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars.”

Some goals are not meant to be achieved, but to just move you forward.

No, you’ll never reach Goku’s level.

You’ll never reach Superman’s level.

You won’t even reach Mr. Clean‘s level.

But if you try, you’re still going to improve far beyond the point you’re at now.

(If you want help reaching those goals, you can get direct help from me here.)

Rocky Balboa can destroy all of his opponents in the boxing ring, even if he’s 70.

Can you do that?

No.

But would you get closer to your goals if you started running in the morning and doing one-armed push ups?

Yes!

It truly doesn’t matter if you reach your lofty goal or not.

What matters is if you progress beyond your current state.

If that means trying to surpass a comic book alien or a fictional alien, so be it.

With that goal, you can go even further beyond.

What if you just keep your goals realistic instead?

That’s totally fine.

But… mentally, you could be missing out.

Missing out on what?

• You’re heavily influenced by what you think about yourself, so if you never (ever) think highly of yourself, then you’ll miss out on significant growth.

• You may never have a concrete goal (a dream body, for example) that you can work towards. No, fiction isn’t real, but you may miss out on a motivating model to aim your path towards (like wanting to look like Goku).

😈 DEVIL’S ADVOCACY 😈

What do the haters say?

• “Cartoons and comics are dumb.” (No. You’re dumb.)

• “I like to focus on real-world goals.” (That’s totally fine. You can use the best of the best as your example, too. If you’re into boxing, think about surpassing Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali. Probably won’t happen, but you’ll get damn good trying to reach their level.)

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Well, you could experience some mighty fine gains, honestly.

• You should absolutely feel badass as yourself, but having a fictional figure to aspire to can give you a great confidence boost. (After the gym: “Hey, I’m lookin’ like Clark Kent, barely hiding the Superman suit under his clothes!” 🦾)

• If you still listen to music at the gym (I implore you to ascend), you can make a themed playlist (Dragon Ball soundtrack, Rocky soundtrack, etc.) to help push yourself even harder.

• Hey, if pretending to be like Superman improves your posture, that can’t be a bad thing.

ACTION STEPS:

1. Whether the role model or feat is real or fictional, pick one that’s damn near impossible.

2. Remember that it’s not necessarily meant to be achieved, but try your damnedest to do so.

3. Even if you don’t reach the goal or end up like that fictional character, you’ll make exceptional progress in your pursuit to do so.

Okay, bye!