Why are setting goals essential to achieving your fitness targets? Well, let me tell you….

Everyone who has achieved anything in all fields of life, from athletes to entrepreneurs, actors, teachers, parents, you name it… have done so because they’ve had a clearly defined target to work towards, homing in their focus on a particular outcome to achieve.

Having goals gives you something to work towards…It gives you direction….purpose…focus…motivation, motivation to accomplish a particular task or reach a specific level of competence.

Setting goals injects energy and drive into your life!!…

Without goals we’re merely drifting through life, absence of purpose and sense of self-worth…

Without this direction…We become A DRONE!!

A drone on the hamster wheel, helplessly strolling away on autopilot, allowing life to pass us by…completely inept of our very own personal development.

Really, who on earth would want to be a drone?

Why be a drone when you can be whatever you please…IF you have an end goal, AND if YOU ACTUALLY work towards achieving it!…..

We’ve all fallen victim to this in one area of life or another…I know I have on many occasions in the past! Recently, I wanted to learn French before managing a Ski Resort last winter….

I failed miserably! Learning literally nothing other than the absolute basics….

Why?….

Because I didn’t set out a clear plan, I didn’t prioritise & schedule time to learn, I didn’t set any goals or boundaries to accomplish towards learning the language….

So no, I’m not surprised I learnt sod all!! Luckily, most of the French spoke very good English.

Goals can be attributed to any area of your life; work, family, health, nutrition, lifestyle, education, learning etc…

Let’s take career orientated goals into consideration…

If you have no career plan whatsoever, more than likely you’ll be stuck in the same dead end job you started on leaving school, working at the same level… causing you to miss out on promotional opportunities, increased pay, more flexibility and impacting others learning & development.

You can tell within a few minutes of talking to someone whether or not they practice this concept of setting goals and having direction in any area of their life.

Your natural instinct may be to offer advice or guidance..help get them back on track….

This is exactly the same as what I experience in the gym environment….

YOU CAN TELL within seconds these people….they’ll be wandering around the gym…looking at what everyone else is doing…trying random exercises or equipment…jumping in on your equipment to copy the exercise you’ve been doing….trolling through their phone for 60% of their time….

Having completely no structure to the time they spend on the gym floor….They appear lost and distressed….basically……

THEY’RE WASTING THEIR OWN TIME.

TAKE charge of your health by having direction, having a plan! setting goals or having some form of structure to what you want to achieve.

This could be something as simple as having a workout routine to follow in the gym. Know what you’re doing!

Know what exercises, sets, reps, weights you will be using which work to accomplishing your fitness goals.

You DON’T need to be training for a particular event, you just need direction and something to work towards when you’re in the gym!

How do we set goals?….

Well, ideally, you should set a mixture of short, medium and long term goals following the SMART principles, towards achieving a particular outcome.

SMART principles outlined;

S= Specific– your goal should be clear, easy to understand and specific to achieving your outcome (e.g. if you want to lose weight you’re not going to set a goal to read a novel)

M= Measurable- How will you track your progress and how will you know you’re working towards achieving your outcome.

A= Achievable- Needs to be achievable, not too easy or unachievable

R= Realistic- Needs to be a realistic goal to you, think timeframe/your ability etc

T= Timely- Set your goal to be achieved by a particular date/time

For example, let’s say you want to lose 1 stone in 8 weeks….

A short-term goal may be to go to hit the gym 5 days every week

Specific– Exercising for several days every week will help me lose weight

Measurable- I will burn 700kcals every workout

Achievable- I will prioritise 60 minutes in the evening after work to exercise on these days

Realistic- I will cut down on time in front of the TV to give myself the time to exercise

Timely- Exercising for 5 days every week over the 8 weeks will help me to shed 8Lb’s of body fat

As simple as that!..

HAVE A PLAN….WORK TOWARDS ACHIEVING IT!

START OUTLINING YOUR GOALS TODAY!!

Stay Well,

TheLakesCoach