Where am I? Where do I want to go? How do I get there? How long will this take? All of these are questions that every serious athlete has asked themselves. And the crazy part is that it is not about what the answer to these questions is that sets us apart. Instead, it's HOW we answer the question that matters.
Are you super skinny or a "Hardgainer" and you want to bulk up? Are you overweight or not satisfied with your bikini body ( sorry guys )? Or... do you have a really good health base, you are fit and at a comfortable body fat percentage, but you just want to make some tweaks regardless of whether those are to slim down just a little, or to get better at pullups. Regardless of who you are and where you want to get to...getting to that magical place is all in your goals...
What Qualifies as a Goal?
Let's think back to the year 2000. What woman who watched "Pretty Woman" didn't say to themselves "I want to have a transformation like that one?" Or for another example lets jump forward to '06. What guy that watched the movie "300" didn't say to himself "I want to look like that guy?" Seriously... I know I said it. And that is okay. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that (except for maybe a little vanity). But lets be real... These are not goals. These are DREAMS. This is no different than a six year old who tells his mommy "When I grow up I want to be a fighter pilot!" or the 14 year old girls who fantasizes about the perfect wedding. DREAMS ARE NOT GOALS.
You know the old saying "Shoot for the moon, that way if you miss you at least land among the stars"? Well, while this may have been nice in middle school, whoever said this was not looking out for the best interest of the listener. Now before you get all hot and bothered because your granny said this to you, take a step back and hear me out.
What is a goal? A goal is a measurable, quantifiable, attainable, realistic, and time dependent desire. "I want to look like Brad Pitt does not qualify, and neither does I want to back squat 800 lbs. The first is neither measurable, quantifiable, or time dependent, and the latter is most likely not realistic, and definitely not time dependent.
How Do I Set a Goal?
Goal Setting is actually pretty easy, and it is something that every self-respecting athlete should be doing. But instead of forming dreams and waiting for the tooth fairy to come at night and inject Androl into your quads, lets look at a few simple ways to do it right the first time.
1) Use your dreams as starting points, then back the hell up!
"I want to have abs like Brad Pitt"is a great dream (as I'm sure most of you ladies would agree), but what most of you are really saying is that you want to have a low body fat percentage. Plus realistically, can you REALLY ever look like Brad Pitt? I mean seriously, this is completely qualitative and therefore immeasurable.
2) Develop a clear and concise method to achieve you goal
So you want to have a low body fat percentage... What are you going to do to accomplish this? Are you going to (A) cut all fat from your diet and start training for a marathon, or are you (B) going to cut out all gluten, lectin, sugar, tubers, and processed food, develop a smart training program, and get plenty of sleep? Regardless of anyones views on whether (A) or (B) is the better method, you have to develop a plan or choose someone else's one. If you have no idea how reach your goal you need to go find someone smarter than you on the subject and start over.
3) Set specific measurable variables to associate with your goal.
You've decided to go the (B) route. (Good Choice) How long are you going to do it for? Are you going to go 30 days without a treat meal, are you going to work out 5 days a week for 3 months? It doesn't matter as long as you set a time variable. This will not only allow you to shoot for a specific date at which you can reassess your goals and methods, but it can help give you motivation to keep pushing forwards. " Only 10 days left... I can do it!"
What is a "low body fat percentage" does that mean less that 15%? Less than 12? 10? 6?... The answer doesn't matter, as long as you specify exactly what you are shooting for. Make it measurable
4) Write it Down and Reassess
You are a human laboratory of population size n=1. Write down your goal....EXPLICITILY. This does not mean that you are going to develop it in your head... Go get some paper and write it down. Write the start date, the end date, and exactly what method you are going to take to get there. By putting it on paper you are in essence signing a contract with yourself. You can no longer renege on yourself. You write it down, and you do it!
You have now signed your own engagement. But there is one more step before you begin... Does your goal meet the requirements to actually be a goal? is it measurable, quantifiable, attainable, realistic, and time dependent? Do you have a plan? If not you need to stop... Pull out the prenuptials, and try again. Otherwise you are just setting yourself up for failure.
5) Take Notes
This little study that you are performing needs to be documented. If you mess up and whip out the ice cream before your end date it's okay, not everything works out exactly the way that you planned it, and no one is perfect... Just make a note of it. Keep a notebook with your goals, how you are achieving them, and if you mess up. That way when you finish you can look back and give an honest assessment of how well you kept to your plan, and what tweaks you need to make for next time.
Give Me An Example!
Here is an example of a goal I recently heard: "I want to have 16" biceps by 2012". Measurable? Yep... Quantifiable? Yes sir...Time Dependent? Yep again... Realistic? Honestly I have no idea... Is it possible to have a 16" bicep? For this persons physique I seriously have no idea, so while they went into this with the right thought and intentions, they didn't quite make it.
Okay, Okay... So this time a GOOD example. This is one that I am specifically working on. "I want to do 50 unbroken pushups before 2012." And yes, this is attainable, realistic, has a time dependence, is measurable and quantifiable. How will I do it? Every day that I work out (generally 5 days a week) I am going to do 100 pushups. Week 1 is 100 sets of 1. Week 2 is 50 sets of 2... Week 10 is 10x10. And so on until week 50 is 2 sets of 50. Now realistically will I be able to do this every day that I work out for the next year? No... I'm gonna miss a few days, but that is okay, as long as I write it down. That way if I can't progress to the next weeks numbers I at least can look back and see why I failed, and how I should change it.
What about you?
What are your goals? How are you going to achieve them? How long will they take? Are they really goals? or are they dreams? Spend some time really thinking about these things and developing your own goals. Share them below and we can all help assess each other.
This process is so true.. and works for all kinds of goals! Thanks! I'm working on my goals for 2011.
ReplyDeleteT Ripp, I have thought of some things for myself, that we brought in to discussion yesterday. Obviously if I want to go to Fire Academy I need to get in shape and be able to run a bit. Right now my goal would be to knock off some of this extra weight that I have. Then worry about conditioning my running because it would be less stress on my body. That said I am thinking of the quantifiers that would best fit what I want to do and the time limit to such. Which we can discuss at some point.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Tripp! The subject of goal setting connects to a topic I spend a lot of time reading, writing, and thinking about: health behavior and health behavior change (translation: long comment, continue reading at your own risk). Inherent in most goals is the desire to affect some type of change in one’s life, whether in body composition, smoking cessation, to save more money, continuing one’s education, etc. The very essence of a goal is a desire to make a change in some facet of our lives that we are not completely happy with. But change is hard. And changes in health behaviors are particularly hard! A helpful cursory task in setting achievable goals is to take an HONEST assessment of our current state of affairs. Acknowledging our imperfections, limitations, and weaknesses… yet another uncomfortable, awkward, and unpleasant thing so do!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite quotes is “Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.” But, the ability to surrender ourselves to change is challenging at best and downright frightening at worst. One of the first insights I gleaned from CrossFit was it seemed that people who were really good at it were just “comfortable being uncomfortable”. They were confortable with totally surrendering their bodies and minds to the workout in order to achieve their goals. Sounds dramatic, I know! But, if you look at successful people, I mean really successful people (think Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Mohammad Ali, the list goes on) these extraordinary folks seem to share in an indomitable commitment to their goals, boundless motivation, and infinite persistence. They were comfortable with being uncomfortable, and instead of trying to fight against adversity and failure they surrendered to it, learned from it, used it as a mechanism to make them stronger. In addition, reaching our goals may even require us to be comfortable with others thinking we are unusual, eccentric, strange, or even disliking us. Can we tolerate all of this in pursuit of our goals?
Successful people reach their goals because they are in a continual state of tenacious pursuit of their goals… even when no one is looking, even when it gets really really hard, even when critics abound and there is no one there to cheer them on. People who reach their goals are honest with themselves regarding their limitations, understand how to harness their strengths, and comfortable with surrendering to the discomfort and distress that change often brings.
Be motivated, be tenacious, be uncomfortable. Reach your goals!
@Colleen... Are you going to give us any insight into what those 2011 goals may be???
ReplyDelete@Brandon...
ReplyDeleteWith weight loss the easiest way to specify a goal is to instead of specifying weightloss ( something you cannot control ) you can instead specify food quality, which is something you most certainly CAN control.
Something like, I am going to cut out all bread and rice for the next 6 weeks and replace them with veggies. As that 6 week deadline approaches, you will have more and more motivation to complete your goal. Then after the 4-6 week period we can take a look at how it affected your weight, and decide where to go from there :-)
@ Kellie
ReplyDeleteI really loved the "Successful people reach their goals because they are in a continual state of tenacious pursuit of their goals" line. You are absolutely right. Even when you set a goal correctly, you still have to follow through with the plan. Otherwise your just wasting your time.