How do you plan your goals?
Goal setting, something which can help you focus in on what you want but also something that can seem a little overwhelming. Like honestly how many times have you put of doing something until you’ve planned it out and put off planning it out because you just don’t know where to start?
Goals and all they entail come in two parts – firstly you need to know what you goal is and why, because honestly, a goal you don’t really care about will not help motivate you. The goal you have needs to mean something to you, be something that will bring benefit to you in some way.
Then they need to be achievable. If you’ve never run before aiming to be in the next Olympics probably isn’t going to happen right. But even the more mundane of goals needs to be realistic. If you’ve got a full time and kids aiming for something that requires 5 hours of gym time a day is setting yourself up for failure. You want something that will push you, that’s tough sure, but it does need to be possible for you and your lifestyle.
Then you get to the planning, the how. Here I find it easiest if I break it down. Work backwards, what do I need to be able to do, how can I do those things and what will I need to do step by step to get there. Once you have those steps you can plot them, how much time will you need on each one, when will you do them, how will you fit them into your week, what equipment will you need, who will you need to ask for help from. Once you’ve done that your plan is literally mapped into your diary, it’s appointments that you just need to keep each week. Your goal suddenly is just something you’re doing anyway and that makes it’s way easier to reach.
Regular check ins with yourself are then needed. Each week or month you want to see if you’re where you wanted to be. If you are great. If not you’ve got the chance to rejuvenate your plan a bit. Do you need to slow things down, do a bit more, repeat a few steps again.
Goals once reached sound inspirational, great, like someone just woke up one day and said I’m going to do xyz and just did it via pure determination. In reality, you need to think, plan and create habits to reach goals and realistic planning is the key.
If you’d like to hear more of my ramblings on goals here’s a podcast I did last year …
https://anchor.fm/heather-sherwood/episodes/Goal-Setting-Your-Why-and-How-e1pver7
Heather Sherwood Fitness 