"How can I set good goals this year?"
photo source: http://www.omtorgdev.com/5-high-performance-goals-2013/
Set goals that have meaning
to you.
I’m going to say right up
front, I have been a terrible goal setter in the past. When I started working out at 16 years old,
martial arts kept me motivated. I loved
the class I went to, so I didn’t care about setting goals. It was enough that I
loved it, and I showed up. My classmates
and instructor would guide me and push me on, and I kept getting better. Eventually though I did need some type of
goal to keep going. The weeks turned into months and before I knew it I had
been training for over a year. At this
point, my gains in ability and fitness had slowed dramatically from when I was
a white belt (the first belt given in Karate) and I was feeling frustrated.
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| Yeah buddy, I can relate. photo source: http://buffetoblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/karate-fail.jpg |
I
want to touch on this point here, about how fast you can make gains. When you start training for the first
time you will get what is called ‘newbie gains.’ During those first few weeks
or maybe the first month, you will get extremely rapid results. After that things slow down as the
body starts to adapt and progress seems harder to come by. Its ok, this is normal, try to not get
frustrated. This is your
body’s way of trying to conserve energy and maintain homeostasis. Also when you start a new plan you are
usually excited to get going! You’ve made the commitment to making positive
changes and everything is new and interesting. For most people, this feeling
eventually wears off. Now
aside from staying motivated (which I talked about in earlier posts), there is
something else you can do to keep yourself on track – goal setting.
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| photo source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/webmillionaire/files/2012/12/home-tuition-goal-setting.png |
Ok so back to my story, I
was getting a little frustrated… Time
kept moving on, and I kept showing up to class.
But I wasn’t getting better as quickly as in the beginning. I was working harder and harder to see
improvements which only got smaller and smaller. I loved what I was learning, but I was
getting discouraged, just showing up wasn’t enough anymore. I needed something to shoot for. What I needed was a goal.
Since I was mainly
interested in martial arts at the time, the goal that made the most sense was
to reach a higher level of skill. Many
systems of martial art have progressions built into them, in the form of a belt
system. The highest rank in karate is to
receive the coveted black belt. Symbolically
it is the recognition of a high level of skill and understanding within the
system. In reality it is just a piece of
cloth. But boy did I want it! As soon as I set my mind on getting that belt
my motivation was renewed, my focus sharpened, and I was determined to get that
belt. Eventually all my hard work payed off.
Accountabilibuddy
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| photo source: http://davidvalefitness.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/23f7de33f6c50aef_running-buddy.jpg |
One thing you have to do,
even in you think you are great with goal setting, is to have a friend who
keeps you accountable. Accountable,
accountabilibuddy, get it? Now for me, I
had this without even knowing it at the karate school, all the people there who
became my friends, the instructor, they all kept me accountable. I didn’t want to let them down so I would
train hard on my own outside of class. And I would come in even when I was
really tired so they wouldn’t give me a hard time at the next class. The point is, if you have a workout buddy or
even just a friend who you tell to check up on you, you are far more likely to
stick to your goal. I believe people
dislike failure, but people dislike failing in front of others even more. In fact, tell as many people as possible; it
will make it harder to skip your workouts.
This is true for diet, fitness, or any other goal you want to set to
improve yourself.
The best accountabilibuddy
will be one you can work out with, who is close to your level of fitness for
what you are working on. This will allow
you to push each other and do things you can’t alone, like spotting and certain
partner exercises like medicine ball sit-ups for example. But your workout buddy above all else will be
there for you on those days when you are really struggling to get moving.
So this goal of earning my
black belt worked out great for me, and retrospectively I can deduce why.
1.
It was
simple, straightforward (that doesn’t mean easy).
2.
It was
measureable, either I got the belt or I didn’t.
3.
It was
only one goal!
4.
I had
small goals built in. Other belts to
earn between white and black, these were stepping stones to keep me on track.
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| photo source: http://simonpaulharrison.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/stepping-stones.jpg |
Why is number three
important? Well remember I said I have been bad at goal setting in the
past? That came later, during my time in
the military and after my Karate training.
At that point my training shifted more towards fitness goals and was
less about martial arts. But I also
started adding in all sorts of training and had many goals at the same time, and
I didn’t have the same support structure to keep me accountable. I would have simultaneous training goals of
improving my speed in martial arts techniques, doing more pushups, improving my
kicks, doing more burpees in a minute, increasing my muscle size, etc. Well I’ll tell you, I wasn’t too successful
at that time. And as I said, it was because I had too many goals, and because I didn’t have
people to keep me accountable.
So if you get yourself a
friend or two on board with keeping you accountable, you will be successful. Aside from that, keep the four things I
listed in mind when setting your goals.
This is not the definitive guide to goal setting, but I don’t think
anyone would argue with these guidelines.
Keep your goal simple, simple is better.
Make it measureable, saying “I want to get fit” isn’t a goal. Goals have to be something you know you have
reached. Saying I want to lose 6% body
fat or be able to do 100 strict form pushups in a row is a measureable
goal. Limit yourself to one large goal
like something I just listed. But then
have smaller goals that help you achieve the larger one. They should not compete with each other. So maybe your ultimate goal is to run a
marathon, a short term goal could be a 5k.
And another short term goal after that could be a 10k. This is a simple example but you want to have
your short term goals lead up to your long term goal incrementally.
I will have more for you
next time on this topic, until then check out these goal setting
worksheets. I use my training logs
(usually a notebook) to write my goals but if you prefer a nice neat printout,
these might be just the thing. Remember
goal setting can be used for any area of your life, the same principles apply.
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| photo source: http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/inline-yum-brands-reach-for-it.jpg |
Set a big goal, and plan your
way there.
Free printouts links!
