Get S.M.A.R.T. for fitness success! PT 1

S.M.A.R.T. Goal Setting Your Road Map to Success

We don't all need fancy programs, day planners, or electronic devices to make our goals a reality. The fact is people were successful at setting goals before the electronic age using just paper and pencil. I think it's safe to say that we can do the same thing, potentially even better without all the white noise that computer software, the Internet, and technology provides.


SMART Goal Setting

The system of S.M.A.R.T. Goal setting has been used for decades. It's difficult not to find a self improvement program from the eighties or nineties that didn't incorporate SMART goal setting as a key factor to success. Why is that? Well more then likely it's because the system works. Follow the rules laid out in the SMART system and it ensures that the goals your set are realistic, timely, and achievable.

S. M. A. R. T. Overview

S is for Specific

This is the foundation of your goal. You need to set a very specific goal just as you need a strong foundation when building a house. If you're goal isn't specific enough you'll have a difficult time achieving it to your satisfaction. The same way if you pour a faulty foundation for a new building the rest of the structure will suffer.

Setting specific goals is all about avoiding ambiguity. Goal statements need to be concise, to the point and measurable. A goal of saving money or losing weight can be a SMART goal, how ever phrased in this fashion won't set you up for success. Try to quantify goal statements: I want to save $1000.00 dollars, or I want to lose 20 pounds. If you create an open ended goal it's easy to avoid achieving it. By applying a quantity or number to your goal you can measure your success, set a deadline, and break your progress down into smaller steps.

Once you have a specific goal in mind write it down. Once a goal is written down you'll find it's more concrete in your mind.

M is for Measurable

If you've taken the advice above and set a specific goal that is some how quantified then this second step should be easy. If you're unable to measure a goal how will you know when you've achieved it? Might sound stupid but consider the above example, if you set a goal to lose weight how will you know when you've achieved your goal? When you've lost one pound, ten pounds, one hundred pounds? Starting to see the point.

For some goals, such as the weight loss example, you might very well begin to lose weight but you're never quite sure when you've achieved your goal. It's human nature to want to achieve things, we enjoy setting a goal working towards it and knowing that we completed our task. There doesn't have to be any big prize at the end of a journey, but in the case of goal setting there are benefits we'll recognize upon completion. This only makes sense other wise why would we set that goal? Why is all this important? Because it illustrates why your goals need to have a finite end point, they need to be measurable. Without a form of measure we can't evaluate our progress.

Example:

I want to lose 25 pounds before June (this is a measurable goal)

I want to lose weight this year (not that measurable)

Get back here tomorrow for PT 2 as I continue deeper into the science of the S.M.A.R.T. system!