Setting Goals You Can Actually Reach!
With the warmer seasons just around the corner, we can already hear the whispers of “It’s time to get into shape” and the words Summer and Body just seem to appear together everywhere.
But there is really no point having these aspirations if you have no way and no plan of how to get there. The simple way to do this is to SET SOME GOALS!
Now we are huge advocates for setting goals! But let’s be honest…it can be overwhelming, intimidating and downright confusing trying to set them.
We have put together some tips to help you get started:
SMARTE GOALS
Make sure your goals are SMARTE! Ensure whatever it is you’re trying to achieve is:
SPECIFIC
Be clear about what you want to achieve. Can you write it down in only one or two sentences? If someone was to ask you what your goal is, you should be able to provide a brief description on the spot.
MEASUREABLE
How will you know when you have reached your goal? You must be able to define a clear way of measuring when you have attained the goal. For example, if you want to “Get Strong”, you could say you want to lift a certain number of kilograms or percentage of body weight or perform a certain number of pullups. If you want to “Get more flexible”, determine which area you want to do this in and some simple tests you can undertake to measure this eg. Knee to Wall and Sit and Reach tests.
ACTION BASED
Your goal has to define something YOU can do to achieve it. What steps or actions can you take to work towards the goal? It can often help to work out what skills you need to achieve or employ in order to do this.
REALISTIC/RELEVANT
Make sure your goal is achievable for YOU! Remember, this is YOUR goal so YOU need to be motivated to work for it. If your goal is to Deadlift 200kg but you have currently never lifted more than a barbell, it may be suggested that you set a goal closer to your abilities now and shoot for that ultimate goal a little later down the track. Not many people deal well with failure and although you don’t want to make the goal too easy to reach, you still need to make it attainable otherwise how will you ever reach it?!
TIMELY
You need to set a time frame for your goal. This will give you some restraints to work within and keep you on your toes! Again, ensure this time frame is realistic (work with your coach if you are unsure).
Able to be EVALUATED
This ties into Measureable. You need to be able to evaluate your goal both during and at the end of the process. Dependent on your goals, this may involve having regular Health Assessments or Tests. Evaluating your progress is also helpful in determining when you need to alter your goals. You may be moving faster (YAY!) or slower (that’s okay too!) than you initially thought. Sometimes through evaluation you can decide whether the process you are using to work towards the goal is working or whether it needs adjustment.
Be serious!
Keep yourself accountable! Do this however works for you. Tell someone out loud what you plan to achieve. Make plans with a workout buddy so you can’t disappoint them by avoiding it. Buy a diary and jot down your goals, when you wish to achieve them and by how you are going to achieve them. By actually putting your plan out in the universe, you are much more likely to continue working towards it.
Set a Schedule, not a Deadline
This may involve setting minor goals along the way to ensure you stay on track and have little motivational pick ups along the way as you get closer to the big one. Having these mini-goals will allow you to set your sights on smaller tasks that may seem achievable in the near future. Accomplishing these mini-goals will help to boost your confidence and therefore encourage you to keep pushing towards that ultimate goal!
Don’t set too many goals for yourself at once
Having too many goals may seem like a great idea at the time (more things to achieve right?!) but this will often just lead to a sense of failure and you can feel overwhelmed. Set a maximum of THREE goals you feel strongly about and work with those. You will have a much better change at success as you will be able to focus all of your attention on just a few places as opposed to a dozen!
Seek help from a professional
This will assist you in ensuring your goals are SMARTE and to keep you in check with what you want to achieve. Depending on your goals this may be a Coach, Exercise Physiologist, Dietician or someone else. Work with your chosen facilitator to not only decide on a goal, but to help you plan out the skills you will require to get there and how to get them.
Review your progress often
This is where having a diary can help! Look at what you have accomplished so far and measure it up against the schedule you originally set out. Re-evaluate and see if any changes need to be made.
Having a coach assist you in your goals journey will help you keep on track as you will have someone to “check in” with on a regular basis.
Be flexible!
Things do not always go to plan and you need to be okay with this. It is great to have your goal journey all set out but things happen in life that may prevent the perfect scenario from occurring. It is important to remember that you can always reach your goals. Sometimes you may just have to alter the goal a little.
Think about the WHY!
Finally, take your time to think about it. A rushed goal is usually not well thought out and will end up in failure. Think about the WHY of your goal and the reasoning behind why you want to achieve it.
GOOD LUCK! 😊