Competence, Confidence, Commitment for Goal Achievement

It’s been a while since I’ve written on here so I went onto my facebook feed to look for inspiration. Usually, on Facebook, I can find something to talk about since a lot of my friends are fitness professionals, personal trainers etc. In this case, Kevin Yates one of my facebook friends had posted a video about setting and achieving goals and how it plays into our self-confidence when we unknowingly set ourselves up for failure.

“How to lose weight” it gets around 550,000 google searches a month and yet there is no shortage of articles out there making the same promise of “do this, lose weight easily”.  Despite the plethora of information, people continue to gain weight.   You can read more about the increasing rates of obesity in this document by the CDC.

In truth, it’s easy and it’s not.  It really depends on what you make of it.  You see, it might involve more than you think it does and that’s why you need to be committed.  Those people that say “I’m watching what I eat” never really get anywhere because they quite simply aren’t committed to the result.  If you aren’t committed, you settle for less.  Sometimes the result you want takes more than you may think and you have to do more, but at the same time, it may not be as hard as you may think.

One of the big things when it comes to training, nutrition, and fitness is how much of a mental game it really is. When I sit down with potential personal training clients for a goal assessment interview, I ask them to rate their level of commitment to their own goals. If they aren’t committed enough, I will turn them away for the simple fact that if they aren’t really committed, then none of the “how to’s” I show them will ever be enough. The mindset drives all.

Sometimes people seek me out because I’m a professional “motivational speaker”. This isn’t completely accurate. I’m actually an “inspirational speaker”. You see motivation really has to come from within. I can’t make someone want something they don’t want. I can, however, inspire by example. I train like this, look what it’s done for me, look what it’s done for my personal training clients, it can do the same for you. Hopefully, that sets the spark which ignites the fire that burns inside you to take charge of your health. Along with accountability and self-discipline, if that fire burns hot, that will provide the mental fuel you need to get through the times when you just don’t feel like training.

The other part is that confidence and competence are intertwined. There is something called the competence/confidence loop. Basically, what it boils down to, the more competent you are, the more confident you will be. The less competent you are, the less competent you will be.

And confusion will stop an action before it ever gets started.

This is where guidance and support come in. When you know what to do, then you simply do it. As you do it, you get better at it and as you get better at it, you start to enjoy it a little bit. Success is fun. Getting stronger is fun. Getting closer to your goals through the process can sometimes be a drag, it’s fun when you know you are getting somewhere. Having someone there to support you makes it fun. On those days when you don’t feel like it, use the discipline and the social pressure of having someone there expecting you to come in, to carry you through.

If you are committed, and you simply need guidance, support and accountability to get you to your goals, take advantage of my trial membership offer by texting me at 973 476 5328


Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.

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