Goal Setting Guide

Have you ever set a goal for yourself and thought that this is the one that is going to stick? After taking the gold medal in the couch potato Olympics, you decide you want to run a marathon. It seems like a lot of people’s response to periods of prolonged inactivity. No, it is not impossible, but just highly unlikely that jumping from doing nothing to training for 26.2 miles is going to end well. Even among people who have already committed enough to register for a marathon, studies have found that roughly 1 in 7 fail to make it to race day, with injury and inadequate training among the biggest reasons. 

So, is it the marathon that is the bad idea, or is it the scale of the goal compared to your current fitness level that is the problem? To put it in a different perspective, you just squat 315 pounds for the first time. If you rack the barbell and say your next goal is 365, most of your training partners will likely give you a bro hug and say something like, “You got it, king; those three wheels were easy for you.” However, if you rack the weight and turn to your caffeinated, broccoli-haired spotters and say you have your sights set on the all-time world record squat of over 1000 pounds, they might look at you like you’ve lost your mind. 

Does that mean dreaming big and setting big goals is wrong? Again, no. Goal setting is a great way to stay motivated. Dreaming big can be a tool used to figure out how to lay out your training or just your plan in general to get to that dream/goal. The idea is to set realistic goals for yourself. Then, as you accomplish these goals, you are stacking wins. You can use these wins as motivation to continue on the path of success. 

Take our marathon example. Instead of setting out to run a marathon and running 7 days a week long distances (subtle plug to get a knowledgeable coach to set up training that makes sense, please), and quitting after 2 weeks because your legs feel like a ton of bricks, set a more reasonable goal. How about running a mile without stopping? After a couple of weeks, you mark that goal as complete. Now you decide you want 2 miles without stopping. Then a couple of weeks later, you accomplish that goal. You just set up a month of building consistent habits around training, not to mention adding two wins to your win-bank. 

Your confidence is higher now; you decide to sign up for a 5k race. Another reasonable goal is running 2 miles without stopping. (Another subtle plug to please link up with a smart coach to help lay out your training; doing more for the sake of doing more is just a waste of your time, your most valuable asset). 

The SMART Framework

So how do you actually take a big goal and turn it into something realistic? One of the simplest ways is to use the SMART framework. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Specific: What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Being as specific as you can here will help. “I want to get in shape” sounds good, but what does that actually mean? Do you want to lose 20 pounds? Run a 5K? Squat 315 pounds? Be able to play with your kids without getting winded? For our running example, it could be, “I want to run 1 mile without needing to stop and take a break.”

Measurable: You need some way to know whether you are making progress. “Get stronger” is difficult to measure. “Add 20 pounds to my squat over the next 12 weeks” is not. A measurable goal gives you something concrete to track and, more importantly, allows you to recognize those wins along the way. 

Achievable: This is where our couch-to-marathon example comes back into play. Your goal should challenge you, but it should also make sense based on where you are starting. Remember: comparison is the death of joy. Comparing where you are now to where you want to be can be very disheartening. But if you focus on taking where you are now and getting a little bit better, you will stack those wins and likely stay more consistent. If you have never run before, a marathon might eventually be the destination, but it probably should not be your first checkpoint. Your first goal might be running one mile without stopping. Then two miles. Then a 5K. You are not thinking smaller; you are building the road to the bigger goal.

Relevant: Your goal should actually matter to you. It is easy to set a goal. You think you should want it because somebody else is doing it, or because social media made it look cool. But if you have no real reason to care about the outcome, your motivation is probably going to disappear the first time things get difficult. Make sure the goal connects to something you actually care about.

Time-bound: Give yourself a deadline. “I want to lose 20 pounds” is a goal, but “I want to lose 20 pounds over the next 20 weeks” gives you a timeline to work with. A deadline creates a little urgency and allows you to evaluate whether the plan you are following is actually working.

Put all five together, and you get something much more useful than simply saying, “I want to get in shape.” Instead of: “I want to run a marathon.” You might start with: “I want to run one mile without stopping within the next four weeks.” Now you have a specific goal, something you can measure, an achievable target based on your current starting point, a reason for doing it, and a deadline.

Once you accomplish it, set the next goal. Maybe that becomes two miles. Then a 5K. Then a 10K. Eventually, maybe that marathon goal that originally seemed ridiculous is no longer ridiculous at all. That is the point of goal setting. You do not have to shrink the dream. You just need to build a realistic path to it. Breaking it up into smaller goals is a great way to stack up wins in your win-bank and have that as fuel when times get tough. Big goals give you a destination. Smaller goals give you somewhere to put your feet today.