Day 11: Goals

                When it comes to health & fitness, it is very easy to get complacent. As we get comfortable with our fitness routines, we may first notice the intensity level of our workouts drop, then 4 days in the gym turns to 3, then one cheat meal turns to two, & before we know it, we’re back at square one.

                A fitness program without goals is like a ship with a rudder; you may feel like you are making progress, however it is far more likely that you are simply travelling in circles. To truly improve your fitness level, it is important that you set goals.  

                 Goal-setting is perhaps the most important aspect in achieving meaningful, sustainable, long-term results in any aspect of our lives, yet for many of us it remains an annual exercise in futility that takes place on December 31^st & is forgotten by Valentine’s day.

 Below I review 6 of my personal strategies for setting & sticking with goals.     

1. Set SMART Goals

                The idea of SMART goals has been around since the early 1980’s when it was introduced as a guideline for corporate executives to create effective managements goals & objectives. Since then the idea has permeated mainstream culture & has been tied with goal setting in all areas of life.

                Below I will look at the 5 aspects of SMART goal-setting, & explain their relevance & importance when setting fitness goals.

1. Specific: A common new years goal is to ‘get in shape’ however the problem with this goal is that ‘in shape’ is not clearly defined, & thus it is difficult to evaluate your progress. It is important to specify exactly what you are trying to achieve, such as ‘run faster.’ In this example, you know exactly what it is that you’re trying to achieve. 
   
2. Measurable: an issue plaguing the ‘run faster’ example, as well as the ‘get in shape’ example, is that there is no way to measure your progress. A better goal would then be, ‘run a mile in 4 minutes.’ You now know exactly what you are trying to achieve, & you know how to evaluate your performance relative to the goal.
3. Actionable: it is here that you create the action plan for your goal. To update the example we are using, it may be that ‘I will run a mile in 4 minutes, by lifting weights on Monday & Wednesday, & sprinting on Tuesday, Thursday & Friday.’ You have now defined how you will achieve this goal.
   
4. Realistic: to avoid getting disheartened, it is important that your goal is beyond your current capabilities, but not so far outside of your abilities as to be impossible. Based on this, for an average runner we may change the goal to ‘I will run a mile in 7 minutes.
5. Time-bound: the last aspect to create some urgency is to add a time frame for when you will achieve this goal. Thus, the final product of our goal will be to ‘Run a mile in 8 minutes by October 1^st, 2017

2. Remember the ‘why’

                Motivational speaker Jim Rohn conducts an incredibly powerful goal setting exercise in his seminar titled ‘The Day That Turned Your Life Around’ where he asks you to jot down your major goals in life, & then has you dig into the ‘why.’ This digging in accomplishes two things. First, it allows you to discard any ‘goals’ that aren’t actually important to you. This happens quite often as it is very easy to get caught up in someone else’s goals or what you feel like you ‘should’ be striving for. Second, for those goals where there is a strong ‘why,’ it is a powerful reminder that can help push you through the difficult times. We can often get so caught up in the execution of our strategies that we forget why we set the goal in the first place.

When you inevitably get tripped up on your journey to achieve your fitness goals, a good strategy for reframing the temporary bump in the road is to remember why you want to achieve this goal. It may be because you want to live longer, have more energy, be more confident, anything! The key is to remember the ‘why’ when the going gets tough.

               

3. Track your Progress

                Bring a notebook with you to the gym & record everything! Improvement can be a powerful motivator, just that one extra rep can sometimes make the gruelling workout seem worth it. As much as we like to think we push ourselves to do our best each time we’re in the gym, sometimes you need the knowledge of what you did last week to help you push for that extra rep, or to put that extra 10 pounds on the bar.

By bringing a notebook with you, you can remember exactly what you did last week & work towards being better, even if it is just marginally so. The effect of many small, incremental gains can become massive over time, & the knowledge of exactly what you did last week can serve as the motivation you need to push for that extra repetition.

4. Lose the ‘all or nothing’ mindset

                Achieving your goals can be very difficult. No matter how well thought out your action plan or how meticulously you follow it, you are bound to run into some setbacks. These could take the form of a missed workout, an unplanned cheat meal, or a boozy night out with friends.   

                The key is to acknowledge that you made a mistake – you are human after all – and move on. Too often people set incredibly stringent diet plans or fitness goals that they have no chance of maintaining, & when the inevitable setback occurs, they throw the whole plan out.

                When you have a setback, do not beat yourself up about it. Remind yourself of your ‘why’ & look to right the ship. Right now. Don’t turn a cheat meal into a cheat day, or a cheat week. Acknowledge it happened & get back to work!

5. Celebrate your Victories

                Each goal successfully achieved comes with hundreds of smaller victories, whether it’s having a salad instead of fries, getting in that one extra rep, or even just making it to the gym when you didn’t want to go – acknowledge these wins!

I’m not saying you should have a full-blown party for going to the gym, but at least make a mental note of it. When you finish at the gym, make sure to make a mental note about how you feel accomplished, or healthy – it becomes addictive. The more of these tiny victories that you can store in your mind, the more it creates momentum & a positive feedback loop that makes you want to continue on your path. As an added bonus, you can pull these tiny victories out from your memory bank to help power you through when you are feeling weak or unmotivated.

When you accomplish a larger goal, make sure you stamp it with a true celebration. Finish a race? Go out for dinner somewhere nice. Hit your goal weight? Take a day off to spend at the beach. No matter what the goal, make sure you are celebrating when you complete them before moving on to the next one.

                Goals are important to let us know how we are doing, & to keep us on track. Your goals don’t have to be huge, or long-term, it may be as simple as ‘getting to the gym 3 times this week.’
               The important thing is that you are thinking about what you want to accomplish, & working towards achieving it. The process of setting & achieving goals can become very addictive & a lot of fun, just make sure your goals are SMART & get out there & crush them!

100 Day Spartan