The Habit of Setting and Achieving Goals
Setting and achieving goals help you get to where you want to be. It is a skill that must be practiced before it can become part of your life. When trying to get in shape or fitness, we love the word "goal" because it feels like having that destination in mind will help motivate us. But when we are faced with the daily activities of our life, those health and fitness goals might seem a little less important or even impossible.
This article is going to cover some tips for setting achievable goals and maintaining them so they don't fall too far out of reach. There are going to be times when we want to skip this all together because, even opening a fitness magazine, it will probably be packed full of fitness goals and articles about losing or gaining weight.
We are going to talk about something that will make those fitness goals and losing weight seem far less intimidating; you know, the whole "getting back on track" thing. When we hear the word goal we often think of achieving something like finishing a race or completing a certain workout routine. While these are great examples of setting and achieving fitness goals, they may not be feasible on a daily basis for your type of life.
When we think of daily goals we think of a long, exhaustive list that maybe you will get to one day once you have reached your fitness goals. But, how are they going to help you live your life now? By adding small manageable steps into your daily routine, you will set yourself up for success and maintain those fitness goals. As well as keeping the bigger picture in mind by setting goals for yourself on a daily basis. You can set these small daily goals and build up to the bigger picture goal. Here is where I am going with this:
Let's say your goal is to lose 15 pounds this year by running 3 miles every day after work 4 days per week and working out at home 1 day per week. The first thing to do is figure out what your daily caloric intake is going to be and then subtract 10%. This will give you a starting point for your goal. So, if you have a 2000 calorie a day diet, you would subtract .9 which would leave you with 1,341 calories per day. If this is where you are now, don't freak out because all of these steps are achievable even if your life does not allow you to meet some of them.
I am going to share some different tips for setting and achieving goals so that I know I am doing all I can in life and I am not just setting my goals half way. First of all I am going to cover setting goals that you can reach everyday. Then I will share a quick strategy on how to set goals that you need to achieve eventually.
Setting Goals That You Can Reach Everyday:
The beauty of setting small goals is that it takes the pressure off of setting big goals for yourself at some point down the road. When we are faced with our daily obstacles, we can use those small daily goals in place of those eventually impossible ones.
You can start by paying attention to the little things throughout your day that you can improve on. For example, instead of saying "I will focus on a healthier diet", maybe you say "I will eat one piece of fruit per day" or " I will not eat anything after 6pm." These are things that are easy to remember and require very little effort. You may not even notice the benefits right away but, after about a week of doing this, you will start to see results.
I am going to share some very simple steps with you in hopes that it will give you a better idea of setting realistic goals for yourself. If these are too easy for you, then move on to the next step! Next we are going to set some goals that we can think about but not necessarily achieve everyday:
1. Make a list of 10 small things that could be improved in your day and then choose one thing that would be most beneficial.
2. Think about what has been stopping you from doing this so far.
3. Take that small step and pat yourself on the back for accomplishing something. Don't think about the bigger picture goals! Just think about that small step you took and how it will help you reach your goal.
Setting Goals That You Need to Achieve Eventually: When it comes to weight loss, if your goal is 30 pounds in one year that is completely realistic; you just have to decide where you are going to start. If 30 pounds seems like a lot, then maybe looking at the smaller picture of 10 pounds is going to be more manageable for you on a daily basis.
These steps can also be used for weight gain or general fitness goals as well. You could focus on the goals of strength, flexibility or how to get stronger and these types of goals are also more manageable for your daily life. Just keep in mind that eventually will be sometime after you have reached your ultimate goal so don't get ahead of yourself by setting unrealistic daily goals.
Following these steps, you will be able to set little daily goals to help motivate yourself in achieving your ultimate goal:
1. Make a list of 10 things that you could improve on that would be beneficial to your health and fitness related future.
2. Think about what has been stopping you from doing this so far; maybe it was just a lack of motivation or pre-conceived notions about health and fitness.
3. Take that small step and pat yourself on the back for accomplishing something. Don't think about the big picture goals! Just think about that small step you took and how it will help you reach your goal.
One final note: I am not telling you to forgo your daily workout and completely go for hours only once per week. That is setting yourself up for failure; the number of hours/days/weeks from where you are now to where you want to be is unrealistic in the first place. As far as weight loss, everyone's daily schedule is different and there may be times when it just doesn't work out to workout every day or even every week. However, getting in that workout is beneficial regardless of how far away you are from reaching your goals.
Setting daily goals to improve health and fitness will not only help you set yourself up for success but will also force you to be more consistent with your daily routine. By setting these small goals, it will become less of a hassle that you may not have otherwise thought about in the first place.
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Do You Have Enough? Really good question and I have been thinking about this lately because of all the new diet trends that are popping up all over social media.
Conclusion: Although this blog is a bit different from my usual posts, I hope you found it interesting and informative. We all have setbacks in our lives and my goal is to share these so that we can become stronger with each other!
1) I used to have a very strict diet because of some health issues but now that I am better, I can eat more things but occasionally.
2) The weight gain was mainly caused by medication side effects and some stressors in life; not because I was eating junk food all day.
3) As mentioned before, problem areas may come from many different factors instead of one specific thing.