GOAL SETTING LIKE A BAD*SS

So you’ve decided that it’s time to make a change.

Maybe you need to kick start your health regime. Maybe you have a special event coming up. Maybe you just want a new challenge to sink your teeth into. Whatever your motivation, it’s time to formalize those desires into goals. Goal setting, when done well, can help you stay on track by giving you a chance to align your priorities, keep you focused, and motivate you to keep pushing towards that ultimate end point.

The ‘S.M.A.R.T.’ goal setting acronym can be useful when it comes to crafting your goals. Make sure that your goal satisfies each of these criteria:  

Specific - State your goals in a way that leaves no room for ambiguity. WHAT is it exactly that you hope to achieve? What is your motivation for wanting to create change? Once you know this, you can start to hone in on the details. If you want to “start running”, how frequently will you go? How long for? What days and times would you best fit your runs into? Will you run by yourself, with a friend, or with a running team? The more specific that you can get, the better.

Measurable - Decide on a marker which will define HOW exactly you will reach your goal. How will you assess your starting point to use as a baseline measure? What can you use as an objective method of monitoring and tracking your progress? For example, you could measure success of a running goal by the km run, the time spent running, the number of times you stopped mid-run, or the frequency of runs per week. For a weight loss goal, you could monitor the number on the scales (not the best way!), by taking circumference measurements, or getting your skin folds taken. Subjective measures such as how you feel or look are great to monitor also, but it’s best to have at least one marker that can be quantified into number form.

Attainable - This one is all about managing expectations. Given your current state and any past attempts at this (or similar) goals, is it within your capabilities to achieve your chosen goal? Don’t set yourself up for failure - it is better to understate and overachieve than to overstate and give up halfway!

Relevant - Does your goal adequately address what you would like to achieve? This can be tied in with the ultimate purpose, the WHY of your goal. If you have decided to start running, is it because you have an event coming up to train for? Or you want to run with a friend? Perhaps you want to start running to lose weight, in which case, would a weight loss goal be more appropriate?

Time Bound - Specify WHEN would you like to achieve your goal by. Set a clearly defined start point and end point - this can be good for committing to a start date for your goal, for motivating you to continue when the going gets tough, and for holding yourself accountable to achieving your goal within a specific time frame. Use your end point as a chance to check in on yourself and evaluate your progress. This is also a good time to set some new goals to keep yourself moving forward!

Sometime it can be useful to set sub-goals to break down bigger goals into more manageable, ‘bite sized’ pieces. I also find that making a formal commitment to myself and signing on it can be useful - even better if you can share it with a friend who will help to hold you accountable!

You now know all that you need to for setting goals like a bad*ss. It’s time for action! Take a few minutes to sit yourself down and write out your S.M.A.R.T. goals. The ‘you’ in 3 months time might thank you for it!