Have you ever started the new year determined to conquer your resolutions only to find yourself lost and tired by February? You are not alone! I’ve been there. We’ve all been there!
It’s not impossible to reach your new goals. I’m going to share with you how to make them more achievable.
First, I want to say you need to forgive yourself for not being perfect. A lot of us get discouraged and want to quit when we hit a snag . Life happens. Taking care of your sick children is more important than working out. Goals get put on pause. That’s not failure. Failure is never “unpausing.
“It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort.”- Jillian Michaels
Jillian is right. It’s about continuous effort, but it’s also about effective effort. I’m going to give you a method of how to effectively approach your goals. It’s called SMART goals.
Making your goals SMART are an effective way to approach your goals. SMART is an acronym. To make your sure your goals are clear and attainable, they should be:
Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time bound
Let’s do an example.
Goal: “I want to be healthy.”
Specific– I want to be specific as I can. Being vague can have me going in a million directions.
“I want to lose weight.”
That is a little better. Now let’s add measurable.
Measurable- We need a way to track our progress, so let’s add a number to measure as we go.
“I want to lose 50% of my body weight.”
That is a lot of body weight. It’s not impossible, but it can be an overwhelming amount for some. It may also be an unhealthy goal for others. According to ACE, there is research suggesting that a 5-10% weight loss is achievable for most overweight people.
Achievable- You want to set goals that you will be able to attain. You don’t want your goals to be too easy, but you don’t want them to be extremely hard as well. You want to feel motivated, not overwhelmed or unchallenged.
“I want to lose 5-10% of my body weight.
Moving on to…
Relevant- Make sure the goal you choose is actually important to you. If it’s not, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Also, we can add details to your goal that make it more relevant (also specific) to you.
Say I like riding my bike.
“I want to lose 7% of my body weight by riding my bike.”
Time Bound- Having a deadline helps us at work, and it is helpful for personal goals. It adds urgency and motivation.
Healthy weight loss is about 1-2 pounds per week. Let’s use 3 months.
“In 3 months, I will lose 7% of my body weight by riding my bike.
Boom! SMART goal! Here are a couple more revisions.
In 3 months, I will lose 7% of my body weight by riding my bike 5 times a week.
In 3 months, I will lose 7% of my body weight by riding my bike 5 times a week for 1 hour a day.
The more SMART the goals are, the easier to follow. Try this with all your goals, and let me know how it goes. Subscribe to my blog, and check out more information about mind and body health!
