Hi there,

I’ve noticed that when I set a goal and start achieving it, my brain slyly puts in additional goals to ‘prove’ that I am not meeting my goals at all.

For example, at the start of April I set a goal that for the remaining ~260 days of the year, I will do some form of exercise on at least 200 of them. My intention is to build a consistent exercise habit and trust with myself that I will do what I have planned, even if it’s uncomfortable.

It’s going better than expected – I’ve so far exercised every single day without issue. BUT I’m noticing that my brain is now saying that I also ‘should’ exercise at a particular intensity every day, I ‘should’ be increasing the difficulty of the workouts etc. That wasn’t my original goal at all, but ‘just’ meeting the original goal isn’t good enough any more for some reason. This has also come up in other areas of my life, particularly on longer-term goals that I am able to meet, my brain then adds additional ‘rules’ to them.

I suppose my brain is trying to desperately prove that I’m someone who doesn’t meet her goals, as that is an old belief, and changing it is uncomfortable. Have you got any suggestions for thoughts I can practice when my brain is offering these ‘unintentional goals’?