SMART Goal Setting
Heading into a new year, many of us find this time of year a good opportunity to set some challenges and I’m all for that!
However, many of us also lose track or give up on these goals pretty quickly. This is often because the goals we set ourselves are quite vague. By taking a few extra minutes to really think about the ins and outs of your goal, you can increase your success rate.
Why set a SMART goal?
Creating SMART goals is the easiest way to make sure you have attainable goals. SMART goals can apply to any area of your life, not just fitness. For example, work, hobbies and lifestyle. Setting goals is essential in order to progress and improve, and having goals to work towards can help keep you motivated too. Working successfully towards a SMART goal can give you an enormous sense of pride and achievement.
What is SMART?
Specific - it is important to have a specific goal to work towards. If it’s too vague then how and when will you know that you’ve completed it? For example, ‘I want to lose weight’ or ‘I want to run 5km’ are just surface goals because they are too vague.
Measurable - Being able to measure your success is a crucial element to reaching your goals - it can also help motivate you and keep you on track to ensure you stay heading in the right direction. As an example, you can use time, weight, reps, distance to measure your goals.
Achievable - Think about the things that you need to factor into your goal setting to make it achievable. Are the steps it takes to reach your goal manageable within your lifestyle? Make sure you factor in any costs, research time, work schedule, family hours, other hobbies etc.. when setting your goals.
Realistic/Relevant - Make sure that you want to achieve is actually realistic to you and your lifestyle otherwise you’re already setting yourself up for failure before you’ve even started. Let’s say that your goal is to complete an Iron Man competition, which is a triathlon (swim, cycle, run event) - do you have have access to a swimming pool to be able to train efficiently?
Time - Always set a time frame because this marks your end point. Without one you might still be trying to achieve your goal years down the line!
Some examples of a SMART goal;
I want to run 5km in under 40 minutes by the end of April.
I want to lose 2 stone by my holiday in June this year.
I want to deadlift my own bodyweight of 90kg for 5 reps by my birthday on the 1st August
So now that you’ve set your SMART goal, make sure you WRITE IT DOWN! If you keep it in your head then it’s just a wish and as we all know, sadly wishes don’t always come true. So put pen to paper and hang that piece of paper somewhere that will give you a daily reminder of what you’re going to achieve.
Managing expectations
There are a couple of disadvantages to SMART goal setting;
It can add unwanted pressure to an already busy lifestyle
It can give you a sense of failure or knock your confidence if you’re unable to reach your goal for whatever reason
So before you start to set your goals, I would recommend a couple of things that you can do to make sure that you start off on the right foot.
Firstly, have you tried to achieve this goal before and failed? If so, then ask yourself why did you fail and how can you avoid this time - put a plan in place. Similarly, have a back up plan for things that could potentially be an obstacle such as work, holidays, illness - make sure you factor these into your planning and try to have a contingency plan in place if possible.
Diarise your goal setting! If you put a meeting, social meet up or family activity in your calendar then why not also add in your time to achieve your goal? It might be having a personal training session, going to an art class, 10 minutes of mindfulness but regardless, that’s your time so diarise and protect it.
Affirmations can be a powerful tool and it doesn’t have to be too deep or complicated. Something as simple as looking in the mirror each morning and telling yourself ‘You’ve got this!’ can go a long way, particularly if you have a confidence crisis at any point. Believe in yourself and get the job done!
Finally, visualise your success! Imagine how great you’re going to feel once you achieve the goal you’ve worked so hard towards! How will you reward yourself and celebrate?
If you would like some help with your goal setting, perhaps some inspiration and ideas or motivation to stick with your plan, then please get in touch with me and we can work together to make you achieve your goals this year.