Why Your Minimum Matters More than Your Maximum

Most people set goals by thinking about their ceiling—the highest level they want to achieve. “I want to bench 300 lbs,” “I want to run a marathon,” or “I want to drop 20 pounds.” Ambition is great, but here’s the problem: life doesn’t care about your best-case scenario.

What actually determines success isn’t the perfect execution of a grand plan—it’s what you do when things don’t go perfectly. That’s where goal floors come in. Instead of focusing only on your peak, you need to define your non-negotiable minimums—the actions you commit to no matter what.

The Problem with Ceiling-Based Goals

Ambitious goals sound great on paper, but in reality, they often set people up for inconsistency. Here’s how it usually goes:

1. You set a high goal: “I’ll work out five times a week.”
2. Life gets busy—work deadlines, family obligations, unexpected chaos.
3. You miss one or two workouts.
4. Guilt kicks in, and suddenly you’re off the wagon for a week…or a month.

This is the all-or-nothing mindset that kills progress. When the focus is only on hitting your ceiling, anything less feels like failure. And when you feel like you’ve failed, it’s way too easy to stop showing up altogether.

The Power of Goal Floors

A goal floor is the lowest level of action you will commit to no matter what. It removes the pressure of perfection and ensures that even on your worst days, you’re still moving forward.

Examples of Goal Floors in Fitness:

• Instead of “I’ll train 5x a week,” set a floor: “I’ll move my body for at least 10 min every day.”
• Instead of “I’ll meal prep every Sunday,” set a floor: “I will eat one home-cooked meal per day.”
• Instead of “I’ll drink two gallons of water daily,” set a floor: “I will drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning.”

These small, non-negotiable actions keep you engaged with the habit, even when motivation is low. Over time, they create the consistency that actually gets results.

My Personal Minimum Goals for Well-Rounded Health

To make fitness and health truly sustainable, I recommend setting goal floors across different aspects of well-being. Here are my personal minimums:

1. 10,000 steps a day – Keeps you active and prevents long periods of inactivity.
2. 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight – Supports muscle maintenance and overall health.
3. 10 minutes of morning sunlight – Helps regulate your circadian rhythm and boosts vitamin D levels.
4. At least 6-7 hours of sleep per night – Essential for recovery, performance, and overall well-being.

By making these habits non-negotiable, you build a strong foundation for lifelong health, even when life gets chaotic.

How to Set Your Own Goal Floors

1. Identify Your Core Goal: What are you ultimately trying to achieve? Fat loss? Strength? Endurance?
2. Define the Absolute Minimum: What’s the smallest, easiest action that still aligns with your goal?
3. Make It Non-Negotiable: Set a rule. No matter how busy, tired, or unmotivated you feel, you will do this one thing.
4. Adjust Over Time. As your habits solidify, your floor can rise naturally. A 10-minute daily workout might turn into 20. One home-cooked meal might become two. The key is never going below the floor—even on your worst days.

The Bottom Line

Success isn’t about setting the perfect goal—it’s about showing up consistently. When you shift your mindset from hitting an ideal “ceiling” to never dropping below your floor, you guarantee progress. No more guilt cycles. No more falling off the wagon. Just steady, sustainable improvement. So, what’s your goal floor? Define it, commit to it, and start winning the consistency game today.