GOAL SETTING: Being "Realistic" Isn't All There is To It

Hi bloggers! This week I want to talk about goal setting. As a full-time Personal Trainer, I work with many different people: young, old, athletic, new to exercise, stroke victims, diabetics, overweight, underweight, men, women...and on and on. It's important in my position to understand each individuals goals, and also to help them set goals for their training that they may not have even thought about before. Many people come in with a goal in mind, but have no action plan or idea how to actually achieve that goal. Afterall, if all of us knew how to achieve our goals, we would ... right? 


WRONG. So, what is it about SETTING our goals that we fail at (if we already know we don't always achieve the goals that we have in mind for ourselves)? Even if we do achieve them, how long-term or lasting is it for? You see, the majority of people want change, have goals in mind, but never achieve them.

I urge you to consider that setting a goal must include some the following things:


- The goal(s) itself 
- The emotional tie to your goal
- A time-frame
- Recognition of one's strengths and weaknesses (in general)
- Priority tied to the goal itself (What you want to MOST improve upon)


I will go into detail about all of this because I feel that it has personally and professionally helped me achieve. I evaluate, and constantly re-evaluate myself on these, and urge a vast majority of my clients to do the same. Let's explore why considering each component of your goal is important:

THE GOAL(S) ITSELF

This seems obvious, unless you really dig deep. This is where you recognize your goal, and dig deeper into setting long-term and short-term goals related to the bigger picture. For example: Your long-goal is to gain better balance and stability. Short-term, your goal then may be to stand on one foot, or a Bosu ball without falling off for a specified amount of time. 


Whatever your goal long-term goal is, your short-term goals serve as measurable mile-markers toward your accomplishment. Without a short-term goal, you will likely have little to no clue on what path to travel. Always check the mile-markers.

THE EMOTIONAL TIE TO YOUR GOAL

We all have reasons why we want to achieve goals, usually because of our own self-pride, self-esteem, competition, or because a loved one has achieved something that you want to relate to. Whatever the reason, it's important to recognize it because emotions are what typically hold us back from accomplishing our goals. Take a minute to absorb that...

A TIME-FRAME

A time frame is extremely important in goal setting because it's easy to slack off if you feel you have more time to complete a task. A time frame also will be recognized by those around you, and will come up in conversation often. If you are showing improvement, you will likely receive praise. If you are not showing improvement, you will likely experience some criticism; either positive or negative. See how this goes back to your emotional tie? 


A time frame helps keep you accountable, and selecting ways to determine your progress that are measurable (aka short-term goals). This also helps to increase your awareness daily of what you are striving for. I have many people that come to me with no time frame and say "I don't care how long it takes, I just want to be healthy". That's a great attitude to take on to show that kind of commitment; however people often do not succeed because they give up when things get hard. They can't see the light at the end of the tunnel because they aren't even on the road the tunnel is on. They missed all the mile-markers along the way; as if traveling in the dark. With that, they lack progress because they've never held themselves accountable, and in turn, they never achieve that goal. It's a vicious cycle. 


Set a time frame!

RECOGNITION OF YOUR STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

Choose at least 3 of each. Write them down on an index card, and put the index card somewhere visible. I put mine on my mirror. Everyday I look in the mirror, I evaluate, judge and motivate myself. Some days, I feel great about myself! Other days, I`m harsh, critical, and feel like giving up. Don't we all? MY own words and MY own recognition keeps ME going. Others can inspire, and encourage but it is up to YOU to make YOU better. 


It's very important to regroup yourself and realize your strengths and weaknesses so that when you re-evaluate, you can compare yourself on how you've grown as a person. You should always have an equal amount listed of strengths and weaknesses. Do NOT let your emotions get in the way of listing more of one of the other. Truly evaluate. Use your strengths to guide you through dealing with your weaknesses, and overcome your obstacles. I have found this to be a very effective tool.


Afterall, if you don't take pride in what you're good at, you`ll never get better at overcoming your weaknesses.

PRIORITY TIED TO THE GOAL ITSELF.

 WHAT YOU WANT TO MOST IMPROVE UPON

Life happens! Things happen. These are not excuses, it just is that way. Our priorities shift overtime as we grow and develop. It's crucial to understand where you are at right now, and what's important. Hopefully, when you get to your goal and grow, different things will become priority. If you don't know your priorities, how will you continue pursuing your goal when life happens? 


If all else fails one day or one week, work on what you want to MOST improve upon. This is like having a Plan B in the forefront of your mind. 


Thanks for checking out this weeks blog! Remember, this is an in-depth approach on my end to be very clear on my philosophy behind goal setting. This is not all inclusive, and what works for one person may not work for another. BUT, is what you're doing working? History has a tendency of repeating itself. If you have been shy of achieving your goals, or really haven't even considered your personal goals in awhile please take my weekly challenge! I'd love to hear back from you!

SET GOALS! GET HEALTHY! ACHIEVE BALANCE!

ARE YOU BALANCED?

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: Get an index card. On the front write the date,  and fill in your goals (long-term and short term).  And the back accross the top write the 1 thing you would most like to improve upon. Then, seperate the bottom 1/2 of the back to list strengths (3) and weaknesses (3). Give yourself 1 week to look at the card everyday. Come back to my blog and let me know how you did & if this made a difference for you!

Hard Work: There is No Subsitute

Hard work. A topic that has been at the forefront of my mind this week, as I have been finding some things to be, well, hard!! I hear people say all the time "My life is so busy!" or "I have a life outside of the gym *followed by sarcastic chuckles*" I have personally struggled lately with the fact that I have tried to think of my life outside of the gym. It seems at times non-existent; as I am working hard to acheive lofty goals I have set out for myself, and sacrifice to make those goals a reality. So I stop the pity party, and share with you that this feeling is okay because That's what HARD WORK is about. It's not meant to be easy. It is HARD and it has an investment return. HARD WORK pays off.

On a personal level, my passion is for helping people grow, obtain knowledge and change their lives through health and fitness. It seems at times that is all that I do. So...what's wrong with that? Nothing! You see, the problem isn't that we do what we love too often, the problem is often that we do what we love MORE often for others than we do for ourselves.

Some of you may re-read that last paragraph. That's okay. Let's face it. How many times have you put loved one's ahead of yourself? That's not a bad thing. It just is. In fact, it's a good thing; as long as you also address your own needs. This is where sacrifice comes into play.

Sacrifice is about giving something up either partially, temporarily or permanently that you know you cannot have too much of while trying to acheive a goal. Many people give up alcohol for their families. Some give up time with loved ones in order to work more and save money or provide. Others give up time with loved ones for the goal of saving money (not going out to eat or events), or even to spend more time studying or in the gym. Every sacrifice has pros and cons. That's why it's sacrificial. You give something up short-term in order to gain in the long-term.

The truth is, that without HARD WORK and SACRIFICE combined, neither of them mean much. Hard work comes in many forms. Different things are hard for different people. It's important for us to grasp this in order to help and inspire others. There will be days that are hard. There will also be days that are good. Sometimes sacrifice will be small, and sometimes sacrifice will feel magnified as we progress forward, or even if we regress.

All of has have progressions and regressions, but the goal is to continue an upward trend. A beautiful person recently put it to me like this:

It's like a statistical graph for any major company with large trends. Some days the graph will represent an increase, while other days the line on the graph may drop. The drop could last for a day, days, weeks or even months, but eventually will rise again. The important thing is that the overall trend of the graph is upward. This is also what's important in our lives.

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU: Think about your overall graph of your life. This year. Right now. Appreciate where you are at today, and recognize that whether up or down you will be in a different place tomorrow. Are you trending up?