Turn your goals into a game plan:

Today I want to share a simple framework we use at Nerd Fitness Coaching to flip aims c plans you can actually follow.

You’ll end up like Neo The matrix – able to see the pattern and build a sustainable, flexible routine even when life gets chaotic.

Cool? Cool.

Step 1: Visualize your 12-month profit

The first step is to write down what your goals actually are!

Maybe it’s…

• Lose 20 pounds to improve your blood count
• Run a 5k to support your local charity
• Get your first ​recruitment​
• Feel more confident in your body
• Just feel better. Stronger, more energy, less pain.

Everything is fine.

If you’re feeling stuck, try this:

« In 12 months, if you’ve made great progress on your health and fitness goals…what does life look and feel like? Describe your typical day for me. »

This can help the ideas flow and gives you Polar star to strive for.

Step 2: Identify the skills behind this goal

This is where most people stumble.

They go straight from “I want to lose 20 lbs” to “I need to follow this exactly workout plan five days a week. This misses an important step: skills.

Ask yourself:

“What are the species skills someone who achieves this goal evolves?’

Here are some ideas to help you:

Want to lose weight?

• Portion size control
• Planning and preparing meals
• Getting enough sleep
• Availability of non-nutritional coping mechanisms for stress
• Stay active throughout the week

Want to get stronger?

• Make time for regular lifting
• Recovers well (including sleep and rest days)
• Eating enough protein
• Learn how to work to near failure in your workouts

You don’t need to list everyone skill. Just write a few that come to mind.

Step 3: Choose your practices

Now that you’ve identified a few skills, the next step is figuring out how to practice them.

This is the cool part because there is no one right answer, which is actually a good something. Take my client Amanda for example.

She wanted to lose weight to improve her overall health. So we identified « portion size control » as a key skill. But she didn’t want to count calories every day.

So here’s what we did:

• Week 1: Make it a habit to pack an afternoon snack at work. This helped prevent evening overeating.
• Week 3: Used ​hand portion guides​ to evaluate meals. We started with breakfast, then moved to lunch and dinner for a few weeks.
• Week 10: I tried short-term calorie tracking. Which she in fact she was rejoicing – something she never imagined when we first started!

All different practices. All in the service of the same skill.

We had the opportunity to adapt based on what felt realistic and useful at the time.

And if it falls on a rough day? She can move on to a different practice while still building the core skill.

If you skip the skill-building step, you risk creating an inflexible plan or pursuing the wrong actions entirely.

This is one of the reasons so many diets fail: they don’t help you build sustainable skills. They just give you temporary rules.

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Now I’d love to hear from you!

• What’s a 12 month profit you can think of?
• What is one skill that can help you get there?
• What is an easy practice you can work on this week for this skill?

Hit reply and let me know. I would like to cheer you up.

You got it 💪

– Matt