Are You Actually Fit For The Goal You Say You Want? (Assessment)

https://youtu.be/boGHwBVgJ9s

After all these years of coaching, I’ve realised that most of us are lying to ourselves a bit.

We have these big goals and dreams that we walk around with, and in our head they feel possible because we want them so much. But the problem is that we rarely stop and look properly at the person who is meant to achieve them. We think about the result, we imagine the life, we picture the outcome, but we don’t always take a helicopter view of where we are right now and ask, “Am I actually built for this yet?”

That is the part I want you to look at, because too many people waste years aiming at something while avoiding the truth about the person driving the whole thing.

This is one of the first things I do with a client. Blank piece of paper, pen in hand, and we get the truth down. No pretending, no motivational fluff, just where are you now, where do you want to go, and what kind of person does that goal demand?

Start With The Goal And Where You Are Now

Let’s use motorsport because that’s the world I know inside out.

A driver comes to me and says, “I want to get to Formula 1.” Brilliant. What a goal. If you’re a racing driver, that’s the top of the mountain, so I’m all for aiming there.

But then we have to ask the first real question, which is, where are you now?

Let’s say they’re currently in F4 and just about top ten. Maybe eighth one weekend, twelfth the next, around that kind of area. So now we have the game on paper. At one end, we have Formula 1. At the other end, we have where they are now. That is the path they’ve got to walk, and the moment you see that path properly, you stop just fantasising about the dream and you start looking at what the dream is actually asking from you.

Because now I’m thinking, right, this driver needs to become a certain kind of person to even have a chance here.

What Does The Goal Demand From You?

The next question I ask is simple. What personal skills or strengths would someone need to get to Formula 1?

Eventually we’ll get to things like discipline, resilience and performing under pressure. There are obviously more, like leadership, communication, fitness, commercial awareness and all the technical side of the sport, but let’s keep it to those three for now because if you’ve got bucketfuls of discipline, resilience and the ability to perform under pressure, you’re going to give yourself a much better chance. And this works for any goal.

If you want to build a business, your goal might demand consistency, sales ability, courage and focus. If you want to change career, it might demand confidence, discipline, learning speed and resilience. If you want to perform in sport, on stage, in business or anywhere else that matters, the goal is going to demand certain attributes from you.

That is the bit people miss. They stare at the goal, but they don’t study the person required to achieve it.

Score Yourself Honestly

Once you have your three or four key attributes, score yourself out of ten.

Let’s take discipline. If ten is someone who does what needs to be done every day, no matter how they feel, and one is someone who keeps saying they’re going to do things and never follows through, where are you?

Most people will say something like seven or eight because it feels about right. They don’t want to score themselves too low, but they also know they’re not perfect.

So the driver might say, “I’m an eight for discipline.”

Then I’ll ask about resilience, and they might say, “Probably a seven.”

Then performing under pressure, and again they might go, “Yeah, I’d say a seven.”

And on paper, that looks decent. We’re looking at eights and sevens, so everything sounds quite promising.

But then we go deeper, because the first number is usually the number your ego gives you. The second number, the evidence-based number, is the one we actually need.

So for discipline, I’ll say, “Talk me through the last month. What did you actually do each day?” And very quickly we’ll find out that they were disciplined with the bits they enjoy, like jumping on the sim or going to the gym, but the proper career-building discipline, the sponsor calls, the team communication, the boring work, the stuff they don’t fancy doing, that hasn’t really happened.

So now the eight becomes a five.

Then we look at resilience. “How did you respond to the last bad qualifying? How long did it take you to get your head back?” And if the answer is three hours, or three days, then you’re not a seven in resilience. You might be a three. Someone who is properly resilient doesn’t lose half a weekend over a boohoo qualifying session, they feel it, deal with it and get back to work.

Then we look at performing under pressure. What happened when it really mattered? Did you overdrive? Did you force it? Did you start pushing the entry when you knew the corner needed a good exit? Did pressure improve you or pull you away from what you know works?

Now the seven might become a four.

So suddenly we’ve got five, three and four. Brilliant. Now we can work.

Rub Your Face In The Truth

This is where I want you to use the truth properly.

Look at your goal, look at where you are now, then look at the scores you’ve just given yourself. If the goal is huge and the person chasing it is sitting there with fives, threes and fours in the key areas, then that version of you has no chance.

Absolutely zero.

And that is not meant to crush you. That is meant to wake you up.

Because the goal might still be possible, but the person going after it needs upgrading. That’s the whole point of mental fitness training. You stop being deluded by the dream and you start becoming fascinated by the gap. You say, “Right, discipline needs training. Resilience needs training. Performing under pressure needs training. These are the mental muscles I need to work on.”

That’s when self-development becomes fun, because now it’s practical. You’re no longer just thinking about the big thing you want one day, you’re looking at the person who has to walk that path and you’re training them properly.

Do This For Yourself

Get a blank sheet of paper and write down the big goal you say you want.

Then write one honest sentence about where you are right now. After that, write down three or four attributes the person who achieves that goal would need, then score yourself out of ten in each one.

Once you’ve done that, go back through the last month and score yourself again using actual evidence, because that second score is where the truth usually lives.

Look at those numbers and let them wake you up. If they’re low, good. Lower numbers are useful because they show you exactly where the work is.

That is how you stop just wanting the goal and start training the person capable of achieving it. Enzo