Every new goal starts with a list of things we're going to do. Train more. Eat better. Sleep earlier. Drink more water.
Almost nobody writes the other list: the things they're already doing right now that will guarantee they fail.
This is a ten-minute exercise. It might be the most useful ten minutes you spend on your health this year — because progress usually isn't blocked by what you haven't started. It's undone by what you haven't stopped.
Why the Failure List Works Better
When we list what we need to succeed, we write what we wish we did. It tends to be vague and optimistic: "eat healthier," "be more consistent."
When we list how we'd fail, something changes. We get specific — because we're describing habits we already know well. "Skip breakfast and graze until 10pm." "Only train when I feel like it."
That specificity is the point. A vague success list is easy to ignore. A specific failure list is hard to avoid looking at, because you wrote it yourself and you know it's accurate.
After 42 years of working with adults on their fitness, this pattern is consistent: the people who make lasting progress are better at identifying what to stop than at adding new habits. Removing one real obstacle does more than adding five aspirational ones.
The Exercise
Grab a pen and paper. Don't do this in your head — writing it down is what makes it real.
Step 1. Pick one goal. Make it specific: lose 20 pounds, train twice a week for three months, walk 8,000 steps a day.
Step 2. Write 5 things you'd need to succeed. Be practical, not optimistic.
Step 3. Write 5 things you'd do to guarantee failure. Imagine you wanted to sabotage yourself. What would you do?
Step 4. Put the lists side by side. Circle every failure item you're already doing — even some of the time.
Here's what it often looks like for a weight-loss goal:
Here’s what the lists often look like side by side for a weight-loss goal:
Schedule training vs. waiting to feel like it. The success version is twice a week, same days, blocked in the calendar. The failure version is training when motivation shows up — which means not training.
Protein at breakfast vs. skipping it. Skipping breakfast keeps the stress system running all morning — which drives grazing and overeating later in the day. The success version is protein within an hour of waking. The failure version is coffee until noon.
Seven-plus hours of sleep vs. scrolling until midnight. The phone stays out of the bedroom. Everyone who writes the failure list knows this one already.
Planning meals vs. treating the weekend as a free-for-all. Weekdays tend to hold. Weekends undo them. The success version is a simple plan made on Friday — not perfection, just a decision made in advance rather than in the moment.
Checking progress monthly vs. weighing in daily. Daily scale checks amplify noise and kill momentum. Progress happens over months, not mornings. The failure version is quitting because Tuesday’s number went up.
Two more show up on almost everyone's list:
Movement between sessions. Two strength sessions a week work best with movement on the days in between — a 30-minute walk, a bike ride, anything that keeps the body active. The failure version is assuming the gym covers everything and sitting the rest of the week.
Breakfast. Low morning fuel keeps the nervous system in alert mode all day — which drives the grazing and overeating that shows up later. The success version is protein within an hour of waking. The failure version is what most people already know they're doing.
Most people circle at least two items on the failure side. That's not a reason to feel bad. It's the most useful information you'll get all week — because now you know exactly where the problem is.
What to Do With It
Don't try to fix all five at once. Pick the one circled item that would make the biggest difference and stop doing it for seven days.
Make it concrete. "Phone stays out of the bedroom" beats "sleep more." "Protein and eggs before coffee" beats "eat better in the morning."
Plan the replacement. If you're cutting late-night grazing, decide what breakfast looks like instead.
Check in at the end of the week. Did it stick? Then keep it and pick the next one.
Five weeks of this and your failure list starts to look very short.
If you want help building the structure around the habits — a program built for your body, with a coach who can see what's actually happening week to week — talk to a coach. The discovery call is free. It starts with where you actually are.
