Take action on your goals this new year. If you’re not sure where to start – you’re in the right place. Here is our guide to setting yourself up for success with goals work for you. We like the SMART goal framework. Setting SMART goals means you can clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, use your time and resources productively, and increase your chances of success. Setting yourself SMART goals could be the answer to reaching your fitness milestones. The SMART goals structure isn’t unique to fitness but is a popular tool to support people to reach training milestones. If you’re wondering, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time. Each component binds and builds on one-another and you need to tackle all five to be successful. So what is a SMART fitness goal example? Take a look.
Specific
First and foremost, establish yourself a clear and concise goal. Be as specific as you can. Instead of telling yourself to ‘get a six pack’ or ‘reduce your hip size’, go for something along the lines of reducing body fat by 3% and focus on that. Once you hit that goal you can set yourself another goal. If you already have a Personal Trainer, they should be goal setting along these lines with you. When drafting your goal, try to answer the five “W” questions:
- What do I want to accomplish?
- Why is it important?
- Who is involved?
- Where is it focused?
- Which resources will be required?
Products
Measurable
Think about how you’re going to measure your progress. This can be done in a number of ways. From bi-weekly measurements and weigh-ins, to taking progress pictures. Whatever it may be, make sure you’re measuring and tracking your progress towards reaching your goals. A measurable goal should address questions such as:
- How much/many?
- How will I know when it is accomplished?
Achievable
Make sure you’ve set yourself an achievable goal and start small- lots of small changes build to bigger things. It’s good to have both long term and short term goals, here your only focus should be on the short goals in order to achieve those longer term goals. By setting yourself short term goals you’re more likely to succeed and stay on track and will ultimately make your long term goals more attainable. An achievable goal will usually answer questions such as:
- How can I attain this goal?
- How realistic is the goal, based on any constraints?
Realistic
There’s no point in fooling yourself here. Set yourself realistic goals you truly believe you can achieve. Setting extreme and unrealistic goals can lead to failure and loss of motivation. By setting yourself something realistic you’ll be much more motivated in reaching them and work even harder for your desired outcome. Ask yourself:
- Is the goal realistic and within reach?
- Is the goal reachable, given the time and resources?
- Are you able to commit to achieving the goal?
Time
Something we never seem to have enough of. All of your goals (both short and long term) should be given a time frame to work towards. Once you’re clear on your goal, set yourself a time for when you want to achieve this before. Again, this will only push you towards working harder to reach your goal and stop smaller tasks from taking over.
Power your progress and give the SMART goal a try next time. Let us know how you go by tagging #TeamBulk and @bulk in your social media posts. We want to hear from you!
