It seems like we have blinked and 2021 is in its last week. We all ask “where has the time gone?”. Well to be honest no one knows but what we do know is that we still have a world of time in front of us and now more then ever is the best time to set us up for success in 2022!.
Lets talk about the saying “New Year, New Me” which is thrown around every year as a new years resolution. We have to really think do we really want a NEW me? We aren’t a product that can be traded in at the end of each year for a new and improved model. Of course, setting a New Year's resolution isn't a bad thing this could include attending the gym more, joining our 8 week challenge or making smarter nutrition choices which can improve our overall health. However, problems can arise when we try to make sudden, drastic or unrealistic goals. As the saying always stands we don’t want to re-invent the wheel we just want to make SMART choices from having SMART goals.
So let’s be honest here, setting goals are a clear direction of where you want to go. If you set shitty, unclear goals you aren’t going to end up where you want to be and you’ll have a shit time in the process and have a shitty result. Setting and having goals will allow you to create a clear vision and path that you need to take to achieve them. The power of setting goals lies in the type of goals you set.
Setting goals allows you to put what you want to achieve down on paper or to have it in front of you. Fitness goals are perhaps the best form of maintaining motivation for exercise. Short term goals give you a sense of immediate target to focus on while long term goals keep your overall objective in mind, striving for higher achievements.
Now lets break down what SMART goals are:
S- Specific
M- Measureable and Meaningful
A- Attainable and Action Oriented
R- Realistic, Relevant and Rewarding
T- Trackable and Timely
A quote that really stands out to me is “ Setting goals is the first step to making the invisible, visible” That’s where smart goals come into play.
Let’s start with SPECIFIC:Now when we set a goal we need to be very specific about what we want. If your goal is just kind of something you want to achieve and vague you never really know whether or not you achieve it. As an example, I could say I want to lose body fat in the 8 week challenge. Thats a good goal but not very specific. Whereas, “I want to drop my body fat by 4% in the 8 week challenge” is a lot better! That goal is more specific to what I want and I than know exactly what im headed for. So keep this in mind when setting your goals so that it is very specific.
ATTAINABLE / ACTION ORIENTED: Now I am totally 100% behind anyone who wants to set big goals and shoot for the stars and the challenge that comes with attaining them, BUT we need our goals to be attainable. We have all set big ass goals before that other people might be like “WOW that’s huge, how you gonna get that”. Think about how you can make this goal attainable and in reach during the time frame set.
REALISTIC, RELEVANT REWARDING: When you’re looking at these goals, make sure that they’re realistic and relevant and rewarding. A few things you could ask yourself for this one is: Does it align with what I truly want to achieve? Is It realistic for me to get that goal in that timeframe with my current work/ habits? Is it 100% attainable?
If you say you want to lose 10% body fat in 8 weeks, this is an unrealistic expectation and time frame which ultimately will set you up for failure because you have not been realistic about it. Something more along the lines of losing 3-4kgs of Body Fat during the 8 Week challenge would be more attainable for some individuals depending on their goals.
TIMELY and TRACKABLE: You want to make sure that you can see the end in sight and that the process can have an end sate, This can be a challenge like we have just started or an event. Its important to have that end date so that you will know exactly when you get to the end if you have arrived at your destination with said goal. tracking your progress each week with this will also allow you to make your changes along the way and put more pressure and effort in or take some off ourself when you are getting closer etc.
Its crucial that we make sure our goals have a beginning and an end so we are able to see how we have done and the progress we have made. It will also test you and see what you’ve done and see if it was effective and help you go back and say, okay, well, maybe we didn’t get it all the way but this is maybe why. This will than allow you to reevaluate and reset more goals.
Id love to see everyone setting smart goals. Not only just for during a challenge, but anytime you want to see a change in your health and fitness, or even in business. A new year is a great time to Kick off some SMART goals! Lets make them realistic, attainable and not about departing with the old you but growing and becoming stronger in 2022.