Dan Martell - If You Want to Achieve Your Goals in 2026, Watch This

00:00:00.000 stop wasting your life. I'm going to share with you the seven principles to achieve all your

00:00:04.800 goals this year. These principles help me go from a distracted mess to a hyper-focused CEO.

00:00:10.020 So here's how to make this year the best year of your life. Starting with principle number one,

00:00:14.640 set your standards. People talk about goals all the time, but what they don't talk about

00:00:18.960 is standards. The process that you hold that make the goals inevitable. So here's how I solve things.

00:00:24.860 You have to link your goals to your daily standards.

00:00:28.760 So if you don't know what daily standard you would hold

00:00:30.980 that would make your goals inevitable,

00:00:32.500 then you really don't have a process

00:00:34.620 or a blueprint for being successful.

00:00:37.000 So for example, if I want visible abs,

00:00:39.400 I gotta ask myself, what's my daily standard for my macros?

00:00:42.840 What's my daily standards for working out?

00:00:44.840 What's my daily standards for recovery?

00:00:46.840 If I don't have that so I can measure black and white,

00:00:49.620 did I do it or did I not?

00:00:51.300 Knowing that if I showed up every day

00:00:53.480 and held that standard,

00:00:54.920 it would make that six pack inevitable.

00:00:57.060 Another strategy I like to do

00:00:58.280 is I like to write them down, obviously,

00:01:00.420 make them smart, specific, measurable,

00:01:02.620 attainable, realistic, and timely,

00:01:04.380 and then look at them multiple times a day.

00:01:06.940 I look at my personal goals for the year,

00:01:09.040 three times a day.

00:01:09.760 I connect them to a trigger and I review them

00:01:12.160 and I ask myself, am I showing up to achieve those goals?

00:01:15.340 Is my calendar aligned to achieve those goals?

00:01:17.740 What other aspects of my life do I need to align

00:01:20.020 to make sure I hit it?

00:01:20.940 When you write it down and you review it every day, it makes the whole process easier.

00:01:25.860 And that process is part of the five daily non-negotiables that I mandate every one of

00:01:30.300 my clients to do inside of my coaching program. If you're interested in working with me directly

00:01:34.420 to elevate your game this year, just find me on Instagram and message me the word YouTube

00:01:38.860 Elite and I'll see if you'd be a fit. But setting standards isn't enough. You have to make them

00:01:44.340 easy to keep them consistent. Which brings us to principle number two, design your environment.

00:01:50.160 When I was 17, I ended up going to a rehab

00:01:52.620 because I struggled with addiction

00:01:54.100 and it was a tough period of my life.

00:01:56.400 The beautiful thing about going to this place

00:01:58.380 where I spent 11 months to work on myself

00:02:00.560 is that I got to learn the power of your environment.

00:02:03.960 See, most people fall back

00:02:06.080 because they go to the same bad environment.

00:02:08.460 Most people relapse because they're released

00:02:10.460 back into their same family, their same city,

00:02:12.640 their same school, and they really struggle to stay sober

00:02:15.500 because they're exposed to the same negative influences

00:02:18.500 in their life.

00:02:19.680 your environment, how you set it up will decide if you fail or you move forward. Part of that

00:02:25.600 environment brings up this philosophy I have, which is it's easier to avoid the dragon than to

00:02:30.400 slay it. Just deciding on what is in your environment, what you take out so you don't

00:02:35.280 have to make decisions every day will make the whole process of achieving goals so much easier.

00:02:39.320 For example, before I go to bed, I lay out my clothes for the next morning for the gym,

00:02:43.520 ready to go. Why? I don't want to make a decision around it. The way I think about it is most people

00:02:48.500 want to either make more money or get in shape. Those are the big buckets. So if you think about

00:02:52.740 it, get in shape. How do you design your environment to make it inevitable you'll

00:02:56.940 achieve your goals? Well, first off, take all the crap out of your kitchen. Anything that is a 0.97

00:03:00.980 slippery slope around a bad decision, especially late at night, take it the heck out of your life.

00:03:06.200 Now I've got kids and what if my wife doesn't like it? Hey, have a conversation with them. 0.98

00:03:09.960 If you're serious about hitting your fitness goal, you have to prune and design your environment.

00:03:14.640 same thing with money what makes it easier for you to make cold calls is it coffee in the morning

00:03:19.600 get yourself a nice coffee machine in your office is it your vision board in front of you is it a

00:03:25.560 great chair so when you sit down you feel comfortable if you just make the game easier

00:03:30.680 to play you'll have the highest potential of being successful so instead of buying that next video

00:03:35.160 game or going out with your friends and spend a couple hundred bucks at the bar spend money on

00:03:39.640 your environment to make your goals easier to achieve but there's another way that we can hack

00:03:44.260 our mindset to make our goals even easier to achieve. Which brings us to principle number

00:03:48.540 three, gamify progress. There's actually a reason why video games become psychologically addictive

00:03:55.660 is because they visualize progress per level that makes you feel like you're accomplishing

00:04:01.460 small micro wins. Think about it. You jump on something, big explosion, big celebration,

00:04:06.540 the ability to build your character. These are all visual progression to the goal of winning the game.

00:04:12.160 do that with your own personal goals having a calendar down in your kitchen every time you

00:04:16.560 work out put a big x across it so that you feel like you're making progress the goal is to fill

00:04:20.820 up the calendar if you wanted to make more money have a thermometer set up that you designed to

00:04:25.840 have your goal per week so that you're hitting your goal every week and also i would recommend

00:04:30.140 do it per day my buddy the other day was telling about his software he built for snow removal he

00:04:34.660 made it simple that every person is operators that are removing snow he's got a map all the places

00:04:40.000 he's got to remove the snow are red and as he pulls into the driveway it turns green it makes

00:04:44.600 it a fun little game for his snow operators to remove the snow at the client's house without

00:04:49.600 ever missing a house because it's visual for me it's a daily progress it's a daily visual stepping

00:04:55.340 on a scale and checking in and texting my coach that text message is part of that daily rhythm

00:05:00.980 i have a daily email that i get for all of my businesses that show me my cash position i check

00:05:06.680 those. It is a habit that keeps my mind focused on my outcomes. And that's why the more you focus

00:05:13.200 on, the more it'll expand. Most people don't know this. Your life is the results of your most

00:05:18.700 dominant feelings, actions, and beliefs. If you think about goal setting, project planning,

00:05:25.760 reviewing your goals, vision board, all of it is designed to keep you focused on your most dominant

00:05:31.400 actions, feelings, and beliefs around what's possible. And when you do that, you create your

00:05:36.540 reality. But to actually achieve your goal this year, you have to think way bigger than your

00:05:40.880 actions. Which brings us to principle number four, connect to an identity. For me, identity is

00:05:46.240 everything. When I first started my fitness journey, it wasn't about trying to get fit. It

00:05:51.000 was about becoming something. So I used to write down that I was an athlete. And it's crazy because

00:05:55.780 when I started doing CrossFit, all of a sudden now I'm competing every day because that's the

00:06:00.320 way CrossFit set up. And I started to build this identity of being an athlete. If you want to

00:06:04.460 change your results first, change how you see yourself. It's kind of interesting because most

00:06:09.720 people think when I have that thing, then I'll do the thing. Then I'll be the person. And the truth

00:06:16.060 is, is that it doesn't work like that. It's completely different. Reverse it. First, you

00:06:20.080 have to be the person. Then you do the work and then you'll have the results. It always comes

00:06:25.000 first. You know, Jim Rohn used to joke, you better hope nobody gives you a million dollars before

00:06:28.560 you're a millionaire because if you do, you're going to quickly lose it. Oftentimes, you shouldn't

00:06:33.580 get the thing until you're ready for it. A big part of that is the identity of being somebody

00:06:38.800 that can manage it. Even in my fitness program, most people think they're joining to get shredded

00:06:43.540 or to put on some muscle, but the truth is they come into my life to reset their identity. I make

00:06:49.300 them design a mantra, a sentence of identity that they have to repeat to themselves all the time

00:06:55.340 when they go to the gym,

00:06:56.600 when they're reminding themselves what it's all about

00:06:58.800 because that identity will make it

00:07:01.340 so that that's just who they are.

00:07:02.740 And you get to a place where eating a certain way

00:07:05.500 isn't a diet, it's called food.

00:07:08.180 Think about when you can get to a place

00:07:09.900 where going to the gym is just part of who you are,

00:07:12.840 that not going to the gym would feel as weird

00:07:15.400 as not wearing pants.

00:07:16.640 You'd be like, I don't feel good, I don't feel myself.

00:07:18.760 That's why when you see me talk about

00:07:20.260 exhaust the body, tame the mind,

00:07:22.340 I'm really resetting the identity.

00:07:24.480 I'm getting my mind straight.

00:07:25.960 I'm keeping the control over my thoughts.

00:07:28.320 And the more we speak our identity out loud,

00:07:30.840 it's who we've become.

00:07:32.180 So I know it sounds crazy,

00:07:33.420 but before I ever was an Iron Manor,

00:07:35.820 I wrote it down in my journal every morning

00:07:38.660 for years before I ever finished my first race.

00:07:42.440 But achieving your goals this year

00:07:43.780 isn't gonna happen by yourself.

00:07:45.760 Which brings us to principle number five,

00:07:47.860 upgrade your peer group.

00:07:49.180 I remember a long time ago, I was in my mid-20s.

00:07:51.580 I joined a mastermind to upgrade my knowledge and experience.

00:07:56.220 Everybody in that room was running like an eight-figure-plus company, 0.96

00:07:59.340 and I felt like a frigging imposter. 0.91

00:08:01.420 It was super uncomfortable. 0.93

00:08:03.220 What happened, though, being in that group forced me to raise my standards to match theirs.

00:08:08.520 Being in proximity of people executing at a higher level forced me to reflect on how I was showing up.

00:08:16.080 I didn't want to go to the next meeting feeling like I was the low person on the totem pole,

00:08:21.080 and it made me be a lot more serious

00:08:22.980 and a lot more focused about hitting my goals.

00:08:25.160 And this is how I do it today.

00:08:27.260 I ask myself a simple question.

00:08:29.240 Are the people in my life closer to my goals

00:08:31.900 or just closest to me?

00:08:33.540 See, if nobody in your life that you spend time with

00:08:36.200 has achieved the thing you're trying to do,

00:08:38.020 then you're always gonna have to be fighting

00:08:39.900 an uphill battle.

00:08:40.940 So this is what's very unique about my approach.

00:08:43.260 Once I do my annual planning,

00:08:45.060 I understand where I wanna end up.

00:08:46.660 I ask myself, who are the people that I need in my life

00:08:49.520 to make those goals easier?

00:08:50.760 I call it a relationship plan.

00:08:52.580 This is everything from mentors,

00:08:54.040 people that will inspire me to make the right decisions,

00:08:57.020 coaches, folks that have the blueprint,

00:08:59.220 peers, other people along the journey

00:09:01.320 to make it less lonely.

00:09:02.520 I write down the names of the people.

00:09:04.680 And if I don't know who they are, I go search,

00:09:06.520 I go research, I go on YouTube, I go on Instagram,

00:09:08.940 I ask my friends.

00:09:10.000 So building that relationship plan

00:09:11.820 so that I invest in people to be around them,

00:09:14.860 to travel and seek their guidance,

00:09:17.000 that to me is how I'm able to achieve my goals

00:09:19.500 so much easier than most

00:09:20.700 because they're trying to figure it out on their own.

00:09:22.800 That's so crazy.

00:09:24.220 Find the people that have been to the mountaintop

00:09:26.240 and ask them how.

00:09:27.620 For example, when I hiked Mount Rainier,

00:09:29.820 the guy that brought us to the top in a season,

00:09:32.760 he does that summit 37 times.

00:09:35.200 Do you think maybe he has some experience to help us?

00:09:38.280 You better believe it.

00:09:39.220 Some of you are hiking Mount Rainier equivalent

00:09:42.100 in your fitness, in your relationships,

00:09:44.000 in your business, in your health for the first time.

00:09:46.420 And there's somebody right next to you

00:09:48.280 if you open up your eyes

00:09:49.260 and just look around in your community

00:09:50.620 that have done it 37 times a year

00:09:53.340 and you haven't even asked them for advice.

00:09:55.300 Why?

00:09:55.740 Is it because you're not capable

00:09:57.840 or willing to invest in yourself?

00:09:59.420 It's a flawed strategy and a very slow strategy

00:10:02.140 to avoid seeking other people

00:10:04.120 and really refining your relationships

00:10:06.000 to make your goals easier.

00:10:07.280 People always wanna ask me like,

00:10:08.820 who are the relationships I need to add?

00:10:10.860 I always say, well, who are the people you need to cut?

00:10:13.200 The other day, a friend of mine asked that same question

00:10:15.100 and I said, name me the one person that you know,

00:10:17.280 and I know you're gonna feel uncomfortable answering this.

00:10:19.260 that you're going to have to cut out of your life to create space for those new people 1.00

00:10:23.500 that you've been putting off that tough conversation because you care about them and

00:10:27.020 they've been good to you unfortunately today in your heart you know they've been an anchor in

00:10:32.140 your progress which brings us to principle number six get back on the horse i find it fascinating

00:10:37.980 that most people have this dream of a perfect morning and if they don't do something they just

00:10:43.500 throw away their whole day they don't work out first thing in the morning they don't decide to

00:10:47.500 to go in the afternoon. They miss getting a good kickstart in their morning in regards to their

00:10:51.600 calls or their process or whatever it is. And they just write off the rest of the day. And the truth

00:10:56.240 is, is you don't have to do it that way. The other day, my buddy's telling about this concept called

00:11:00.240 the floor in the ceiling. He says, look, my floor is, I went for a walk. My ceiling is, I got all

00:11:06.360 the workouts done. I showed up at a 10 out of 10. And all I hold myself accountable is being in

00:11:11.980 between the floor and the ceiling. If I got a bunch of stuff done, great. But at minimum, I want to

00:11:16.460 get my walk in. My rule is I don't go more than two days without doing the thing. If you don't

00:11:22.140 get back on the horse, then you might start what's called a negative downward spiral where you'll wake

00:11:26.820 up in 35, 45 days and realize you haven't been to the gym. You put on that 5, 10, 15 pounds,

00:11:32.500 especially after a vacation where you might not have made the best decisions. And instead of just

00:11:36.680 saying, I'm going to do anything today to get back on the horse, you throw it all away, all your

00:11:41.960 gains. There's this really fun thing I heard once. It said, you can start a diet halfway through a

00:11:46.060 bag of chips. It's that simple. If you keep showing up, even if you've been a few days

00:11:51.180 without doing the thing and you don't quit, that's what makes people impressive. Just because you had

00:11:55.940 a bad moment doesn't need to make it a bad day. But don't just try to go heads down and be quiet

00:12:00.940 about it. Which brings us to principle number seven, make it public. When I made the decision

00:12:05.600 to get visible abs at 44 years old, I could have easily just started a process, got on a meal plan,

00:12:12.340 started working out and not tell a soul and that actually would have been easier because soon as

00:12:17.100 you tell somebody else guess what you're indirectly accountable to them they're going to ask you about

00:12:21.300 it and most people do this with their goals they keep it to themselves because they don't want

00:12:25.080 anybody else asking them about it they don't want to be public about it they don't want to be

00:12:28.580 questioned about it they don't want to be second guessed about it and the truth is is when you

00:12:32.340 talk about it you activate your goals it's why i'm so passionate about creating content and

00:12:37.620 publishing your thoughts public to the internet is because in many ways it's the most beautiful

00:12:42.140 personal development program because it forces you to confront the areas of your life that you

00:12:47.800 don't want to be accountable to. All my clients in my business program, I make them do this because

00:12:52.460 I want them to be accountable to people. I want them to call their shot. Think of it this way.

00:12:57.460 Every person you admire has publicly called their shot, has told people, this is what I'm going to

00:13:02.920 do. From Walt Disney to Dana White to The Rock, these are the folks that you see do massive things

00:13:09.120 in the world. But before they ever achieved those things, they said it. My favorite part about doing

00:13:13.940 that is that you can also inspire others to join you in the process. When I decided to do 75 hard

00:13:19.860 the first time, I had 300 people that said, I want to do it too. Cool. We're starting on Monday,

00:13:24.820 get your weekend sorted and let's kick it off. It also attracts resources and people to you that

00:13:30.020 want to help you. One of the coolest things about this is you'll never know who you'll inspire.

00:13:34.480 I remember my buddy, Damon Fryer came up to me and he said, Hey, last time we met,

00:13:37.840 you mentioned you quit drinking i didn't really have a problem but i knew as i got older i didn't

00:13:41.520 need it in my life and i haven't drank in a couple months and i'm thinking of doing the work to get

00:13:45.760 absolutely shredded like you did and i introduced him to my coach and they started working together

00:13:49.920 today he is absolutely ripped why because i decided to share my goals publicly most people

00:13:57.360 are scared of looking bad of failing publicly than anything else so you use that as a way to

00:14:04.640 to propel you forward.

00:14:05.960 It's like you could hire a coach to hold you accountable

00:14:08.780 or you could just tell everybody you know

00:14:10.460 what you're gonna go do and have them question you

00:14:12.980 if you're on pace.

00:14:14.000 Tell everybody you're doing that Spartan race.

00:14:15.520 Tell everybody you're doing the Ironman.

00:14:16.700 Tell everybody you're gonna go enter a CrossFit competition

00:14:19.140 even if you've not registered.

00:14:20.400 Trust me, you'll probably wanna go do those things

00:14:23.120 so that you don't have to tell everybody

00:14:24.660 that you didn't do it and let everybody down.

00:14:26.880 The coolest part about this process,

00:14:28.840 even though yes, it's fun to hit your goals

00:14:30.860 and achieve things and be successful,

00:14:33.080 is that if you do this right, you'll wake up every day

00:14:36.740 to become the best version of yourself.

00:14:38.580 In many ways, the person that you needed most

00:14:40.680 in some of your darkest moments.

00:14:42.260 And then in sharing this process

00:14:44.140 and telling other people about it,

00:14:45.700 you'll inspire folks you didn't even know were watching.

00:14:48.180 And in a few years,

00:14:49.180 maybe they'll have enough courage to share it with you.

00:14:51.400 But I know you will impact their life.

00:14:53.520 Your decision to improve your situation

00:14:56.480 will help other people.

00:14:57.780 And if that's not enough motivation to go after it,

00:15:00.300 I don't know what else is.

00:15:01.520 So if you want to learn the seven things I quit to go from broke to millionaire, click here and I'll see you on the other side.

Dan Martell - March 11, 2025

If You Want to Achieve Your Goals in 2026, Watch This

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript