Set goals that will ACTUALLY change your health!

Do you often feel that you are not moving forward with your fitness goals, or do you find it hard to stick to your resolutions to eat healthier? Would you like to learn to set goals that will actually make a difference to your health? Well keep reading!

Today I will be showing you how to set goals that will actually make a difference to your health!

I have used this technique with many of my clients, and its been a real game changer! Also, I will share a free work sheet by the end of the post, so let’s get started!

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Learn to set goals that will ACTUALLY change your health

Do you want to learn to set goals that will actually make a difference to your health? Well keep watching!

If you read my previous post on motivation, you will have delved deep into the why of changing habits. So today, let’s take a look at how we can actually put those resolution into a goal that you can follow through with!

When you have your motivations in check, the key to following through with your goals is to actually write down a goal that will help you to stay focused.

Many traditional New Year’s resolutions seem pretty straightforward:

– I’ll join the gym

– I will lose some weight

– This is the year I will give up chocolate

However, joining the gym does not mean actually going to the gym. And losing weight may seem like a simple goal, but without a clear plan it can be impossible to shift those pounds. And will you really be able to give up chocolate for good? (I wouldn’t be!)

Learning how to set a good New Year’s resolution or summer goal is a skill that you can actually learn! A handy tool that I often use with my clients is setting “SMART” goals.

What does “SMART” stand for you may ask?

Specific

Write out clear and concise goals

Measurable

Make sure you can measure your progress

Achievable

Set yourself challenging but achievable goals

Relevant

Ensure that your goal will help you achieve your plan

Timely

Set a start and finish time

By planning your healthy habits in a “SMART” way, you are much more likely to start your habit, persist with the habit and achieve your goal! Research has shown that up to 90% of the time, people who set SMART goals were more likely to have seen a positive effect from setting their goal!

Let’s look at some examples:

Someone who would like to improve their fitness levels this year may set a goal to work-out more often. So for example, let’s take a closer look at that goal to “join the gym” and compare it to our SMART goal standard.

Specific	Which gym will you join? What will you be doing at the gym?
Measurable	How often will you go and long will you spend there?
Achievable	Joining the gym is simple enough, but do you have the money to join for the year? Do you have time to go to the gym?
Relevant	Simply joining the gym will not get you fitter.
Timely	When will you join the gym and when will you go to the gym?
SMART Verdict	Too many uncertainties in the goal of “I will join the Gym”. Simply joining the gym will not help you get fitter and it will be hard to motivate yourself to continue going to the gym if you do not have a clear plan.

Now let’s compare this to a goal such as “Starting this Monday, I will start training three times a week to be able run 5km in 30 minutes in 8 weeks time.”

Specific	We know what exercise we will be doing (running).
Measurable	We are focused on how often we will train and we can measure our progress by timing how long our run takes.
Achievable	You can train for free and whenever we find the time.
Relevant	Building up our running speed over time is likely to improve our fitness levels.
Timely	We can monitor our progress week by week and have a time-bound goal.
SMART Verdict	By setting this goal, we will be able to measure our progress and will likely improve our fitness levels!

Next, we can do the same for a goal about weight loss:

	“I will lose some weight”	“I will lose a pound (0.5kg) a week for 12 weeks, to lose a total of 6kg by April.”
Specific	How much weight will you lose?	We have a clear and specific amount of weight we wish to lose.
Measurable	Without setting a clear goal for weight loss, we cannot measure our progress!	Our progress can be measured weekly to see if we are on target of losing that pound a week.
Achievable	Depending on what you imagine this “weight loss” to be, it may or may not be achievable.	Research has shown us that 10% weightloss is possible and sustainable over 10 weeks. If the person setting this goal is 60kg, then 6kg weightloss over 12 weeks is likely achievable.
Relevant	Losing weight is your goal, however saying you will lose weight without a clearer plan is unlikely to be successful.	By losing weight gradually, and keeping track of our weight loss weekly, you are more likely to see success.
Timely	Over what period time will you lose this weight?	By having both a weekly goal (0.5kg weight loss each week) and an end goal at 12 weeks (6kg weightloss in total), we can monitor whether we are meeting our goal.
SMART Verdict	Without a clear, measurable plan on how much weight you wish to lose, this goal is going be difficult to achieve!	This goal is definitely SMART! It is clear and measurable. It has a set time frame and is likely to be achievable.

I recommend that you set one large goal for yourself this year and make it SMART. See this goal as your “destination”.

Now, in order to achieve our big goal and get to our destination, we need a road map to help us get there. Basically, we need to set smaller goals that will help us achieve our big goal. These goals must also be “SMART”, and I recommend that you set no more than 5 at any point in time (again, helping us to keep our goals “achievable”.

For example, if our main goal is “I will lose a pound (0.5kg) a week for 12 weeks, to lose a total of 12 pounds by April” then two examples of our “roadmap” goals could be:

· “I will reduce the amount of biscuits I eat with my tea from 3 to 1, starting this evening.”

· “I’ll get off the bus two stops early on my way to work to get more exercise, starting this Monday”.

Now that you have seen for yourself some examples on how to set clear and measurable goals, let’s give this a try ourselves!

Follow this link to a workbook which will help you to set one large goal for yourself, and then set those smaller goals which help you achieve your main goal. For each one, go through the steps of the SMART tool to help you set achievable goals!

My main goal for the coming year is:

To help me achieve this goal, I will:

Let us know what your “destination” goals and “Roadmap” goals are this year in the comments below! If this post made sense, and has helped you in some way, comment SMART down there also!

In our next post, we will have a look at some ideas that you may use as your “roadmap” goals. So stay tuned on this journey to a fitter and healthier destination.

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