Setting SMART Goals

So you made your vision board, and you're ready to knock some goals off your list. Great!! But how do you make sure that you're setting yourself up to really achieve your goals? The best place to start is making your goals SMART.

What does that mean? SMART is an acronym. There are some variances in what A & R mean, but for my purposes, here is how it goes:

SPECIFIC- Let's say your goal is to lose weight. How much weight? If you lose 1oz, techinically, you've accomplished your goal.. So, great! It should only take a 15min sauna session to achieve your goal! <<See how silly that sounds? Get specific about your goal. 

I want to lose weight becomes I want to lose 10 lbs.

MEASURABLE- The weight loss goal is measurable on the scale, obviously. So that's good. But when goal setting, you want to make sure that all of your goals have easy ways to measure. If you say you want to exercise more or eat better, that's not exactly measurable. Choose your verbiage carefully, so that it is something quantifiable.

I want to exercise more becomes I want to exercise for at least 30 minutes, 3x per week.

ACTION ORIENTED*- Wanting to lose weight or body fat is a good goal, but tweaking it so that it's action oriented help get you there. I want to go to the gym 3x a week. I want to eliminate soda from my diet. I want to be able to do 10 push ups in a row. Working toward goals like this will ultimately help you achieve the end goal of losing weight. You also want to avoid negative goals like, "I don't want to skip the gym this week." Even something as simple as changing that to "I want to make it to all of my scheduled gym sessions" will make a difference in your mentality.  As long as you are doing those things, you will set yourself up to be successful!

I want to get stronger becomes I want to be able to perform 3 body weight pull ups.

*A is sometimes "attainable" or "agreed upon"

REALISTIC*- Speaking of setting yourself up for success, setting goals that you can actually achieve is a major part to making it happen. I'm not saying don't dream big. But I am saying that you should be able to envision yourself completing this goal. I'm 5'5, about 155, about 23% body fat.. If I say "I want to lose 40 pounds," it's not happening. While I'm all for a big goal, it should be something that can be achieved in a healthy and reasonable manner.  Additionally, it has to be possible. On many occasions, I've had clients say, "I want to get a flatter stomach, but I don't want to lose my butt." Okay.. well.... spot treating isn't a thing, unless you're a plastic surgeon, so realistically, that's a hard goal to complete. 

I want to lose 40 pounds becomes I want to lose 5% body fat.

*R is sometimes "relevant"

TIME BOUND- Give yourself a time-line, otherwise, you're likely to fizzle out of motivation. Give yourself a hard deadline, and you'll be more motivated to make it happen. Of course, you should always allow for flexibility, when needed, but in general, you want to have a deadline. In my previous example, the goal was to lose 5% body fat. Well... if I don't decide when I want that to happen by, I probably won't work that hard to achieve it. That's why those 90 day challenges work. Because people have a finish line. If I give myself 6 weeks to achieve my 5% body fat loss, then during those 6 weeks, I'm more likely to focus on making it happen.. If I just say I eventually want to lose 5% body fat, well..... I'm probably never going to make it there.

I want to lose 5% body fat becomes I want to lose 5% body fat in 6 weeks.

Now that you know what it means to be SMART, it's time to start writing your goals out! Although I said that your goals should be time bound, they should also be ever evolving. Set smaller, short term goals as well as bigger, long term goals. This will help you stay motivated, by earning small successes along the way. Once you reach one benchmark, set a new one! Health and fitness is a journey, not a destination!

So what are your goals for 2018??