Now the days are getting longer and the weather will start to warm up again soon, it’s a great time to start thinking about setting some health and fitness goals together. Whether you want to run a marathon, join a sport team or just get off the couch, the best way to achieve this is to set smart goals. Read on to find out more about goal setting – setting smart health goals.
Setting goals in life, be it for health and fitness, for learning, building a business, or financial goals, it’s best to set SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Let’s get into how to set smart goals for your health and fitness going forward.
Specific
Be specific about the goals you want to achieve. Wanting to start running, is great but perhaps you should be more specific about where, when and how you want to run. For example, ‘I want to start running’ is not very specific. ‘I want to start trail running in the Blue Mountains every weekend’ is.
Measurable
If your goal is not measurable, then you wont be able to know when you’ve achieved it. Saying that you’ll do more exercise is not a measure. Saying you’ll exercise for 30 minutes each day is!
Achievable
Is your goal achievable? Is it something you’re able to do? A few years ago I decided I wanted to play roller derby but I couldn’t roller skate and I didn’t have any roller skates. So I had to make some changes to make my goal achievable. I changed my goal to be, ‘I want to learn how to roller skate, so I can play roller derby’. Then I borrowed some skates and I joined the local ‘fresh meat’ training program to learn how to skate.
Realistic
Playing roller derby might not be all that realistic for everyone but I was determined and, although it took me years to make the team, I got there in the end. Think about if your goal is realistic. Will you be able to climb Kilimanjaro with only two months training? Maybe, if you’re fit enough. Just make sure you set realistic goals so that they are in fact achievable.
Timely
Set a time frame to achieve your realistic goal. There’s no harm in training for training sake, but if you want to climb that mountain, run that trail run, play that game… you’ll have to set it in your sites in a defined time frame. There are some great training programs out there, like ‘Couch to 5km’ that can help get you moving in a timely fashion.
