If you’ve ever set a goal in the past, you probably envisioned the journey as one straight shot to the top of the hill, where you’d celebrate the win by a very fixed and mentally-pleasing deadline. This is how we often visualize the path to success, but the reality turns out to be more peaks and valleys than a straight shot to the top.

Even the greatest minds in science with years of planning have to adjust to unforeseen circumstances.

In 1969, the Apollo 11 Mission planned to land on the moon to complete a national goal proclaimed by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961. Their course was set for a journey from earth to the Sea of Tranquility.

“On its way to landing astronauts safely on the surface of the moon, the miracle of modern engineering that was an Apollo rocket was actually on course only 2 to 3 percent of the time,” says Jeff Olson in his book, “The Slight Edge”. “Which means that for at least 97 percent of the time it took to get from the Earth to the moon it was off course. In a journey of nearly a quarter of a million miles, the vehicle was actually on track for only 7,500 miles. Or to put it another way, for every half-hour the ship was in flight, it was on course for less than one minute. And it reached the moon — safely — and returned to tell the tale.”

Whether it’s a stressful day at work that leaves you emotionally eating all the kid’s snacks, a night out with friends, fried food and booze, or indulgent holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas - No matter how well you plan, how much you think you have your environment and the variables under control, we will all go off course at some point.

So how do you react when you go off track?

Do you wake up guilt-ridden, shaming yourself with negative self-talk and regret? Do you then try to white-knuckle your way back with unsustainable over-restriction? Do you get stuck in a diet-binge-shame cycle that leaves you feeling totally defeated and back to square one?

“Top performers in all fields make mistakes all the time,” writes James Clear, author of Atomic Habits. “Athletes skip workouts. CEOs forget to meditate. Nutritionists eat unhealthy meals. Artists loaf around in bed all day and ignore their craft. These people are human, just like you and me.”

The most successful people with any nutrition and exercise program need to course correct frequently throughout their journey. They actually plan to course correct before they even need it because they know it’s bound to happen. This is what keeps good habits from turning back into bad ones.

“One mistake is just an outlier. Two mistakes is the beginning of a pattern. Killing this pattern before it snowballs into something bigger is one reason why learning how to get back on track quickly is an essential skill for building good habits,” writes Clear.

Here are a few tips for correcting your course and getting back on the right path:

#1 - Don’t dwell on the past; learn from it!

Shame is not a helpful emotion. Going off course with your plan doesn’t make you a failure or mean that you’ve lost all your progress. Like a team reviewing the game film after a loss, it gives you an opportunity to evaluate what you did in a particular situation so you can prepare for what to do next time. You can’t change what happened yesterday. What you can do is learn from your choices and make a plan for the next time it happens, because yes, it will happen again.

You might ask yourself the following questions to objectively evaluate your behaviors:

-Was it a conscious choice to indulge?

-Did you catch yourself in the middle of your second plate wondering why you were still eating?

-Were the food and drinks more important at the time than staying on track? (It’s okay to answer ‘yes’!)

-Were there people that influenced your behaviors?

Answering these questions will make you more aware in the moment the next time so that you can make better, more informed and less emotional decisions.

#2 - Right the ship, don’t over-restrict.

It is a common reaction when someone goes off course to want to make up for the over consumption of calories by restricting their intake to less than half of what is recommended. Some may think, “If I eat way less over the next few days, my calories will even out and I’ll have made up for the weekend.” Unfortunately, this will more times than not send someone back into a “fuck it spiral” of bingeing again and again.

One of the best ways you can course correct is to hop back on with the recommended caloric intake filled with lean proteins, vegetables and fruits, and healthy satiating fats. Your body and mind will benefit from the nutrients, minerals, and vitamins in these foods without feeling deprived and yearning for more.

Get back process-focused actions: planning your meals, logging your food, and hitting your calorie and macro numbers and avoid focusing on outcomes for the time being. Consistency with the process will take care of the outcomes.

#3 - Reach out to your coach and allow yourself to be vulnerable!

This one may be harder for some than others because we often feel shame and embarrassment after getting off track, but that is the exact time you need accountability and support the most. This tip in combination with the first tip can be all you need to get you back on the right path. Sometimes talking through the discomfort of an overindulgent weekend can lift a huge weight off your chest, show you that what happened was not a catastrophe and give you the encouragement you need to course correct.

The shame and embarrassment only gain power when you hold them in and continue to ruminate in these uncomfortable thoughts and regrets. Sharing your struggles can give you a different perspective on what happened, what you may have been feeling in the moment, how you were feeling afterward and how to move forward.

Don’t suffer alone. Don’t let pride sabotage your progress. Reach out to your coach or accountability partner and ask for help!

#4 - Get back to it now, not on Monday!

“Screw it, I’ve already ruined my weekend.”

“What’s the point now, I’ll just get back on track Monday.”

If these thoughts sound familiar, you know the power of the “Fuck It” Spiral. Putting things off until Monday soothes the discomfort and makes you feel like you’ve made a plan, but in reality the power of the undesired habit is growing and the power of the desired habit is losing steam.

The most successful people course correct ASAP. Like in Tip #2, this looks like doing simple, process-oriented actions like:

-Logging the Saturday after an over-indulgent Friday instead of whitewashing the whole weekend.

-Planning what you will eat and drink out before you go if you are going out again the day after a binge.

-Front-loading the following day with water, protein-rich and nutrient dense meals

In just one day, you’ll already be feeling better about yourself and your decision-making and back to feeling like you have control over the situation.

#5 - Re-assess and Re-design your Environment!

Another common mistake people make in course correction is to try to summon motivation to get back on track. As you well know by now, motivation cannot be relied upon to create consistency.

What can be relied upon is a proper environment that suits your goals.

Take a look at (and remove) what things in your environment are making it easier to binge:

-Are the food and drinks that take you off track readily available in the house?

-Are the people you are spending time with constantly eating and drinking in ways that don’t reflect your goals?

-Are you neglecting your sleep and making bad decisions that are caused by fatigue more likely to happen?

Also take a look at what things in your environment would make the desired habits easier?

-Do you have healthy options prepped and/or readily available?

-Are you keeping water out in plain sight and close at hand?

-Is your food logging app on the first page of your phone screen menu?

Going off course doesn’t make you a failure and doesn’t mean your fitness journey is doomed - it means you are human. Learning from these mistakes will help you identify and correct sooner in the future.

People remember the picture of Neil Armstrong planting the American Flag on the surface of the moon. Most don’t know or remember all the course corrections needed to get Apollo 11 there, but the three men in that capsule and the countless others who worked on the mission do. They know getting to the ultimate goal is about how you react and adapt on the journey. They know that course correction is the dividing line between success and failure.