In the first two parts of this series we talked about how to set your goals and how to achieve them. If you missed the first two parts make sure and go back and read those first. In the final part of this series we are going to talk about some examples, both good and bad, of goals that I have seen other people set. I am also going to talk about the goals that I have set in the past, both good and bad, and goals that I set for 2020.
Every year at the first of the year many people post their resolutions on social media. The first problem I see with this is calling them resolutions. I much prefer the term goals because that is a lot more substantial. The term New Years Resolution has been thrown around so much over the years that it has lost its potency. Everyone has set one before and most people have failed to keep them. It is a foregone conclusion, and even a joke, to most people that they won't keep their resolution. I think by calling them resolutions you are setting yourself up to fail. You are attaching yourself (subconsciously) to all of that negative baggage that comes with the term. If you really want to make a change then I would say you are setting goals, not resolutions.
One of the things that comes with yearly resolutions being posted on social media is that most people who post them will not achieve them. That's not going to stop them from posting them, however. This gives us a great opportunity to see what goals or resolutions other people are posting and see if they are good or bad goals, according to our previous articles. I am taking these goals from posts I have seen on social media, as well as goals I have seen people set or write up in the gyms over the years. (if you are reading this and you set one of these goals I apologize but maybe this will help you set a better goal). I will post each example below and talk about how I think it could be better.
-Be more consistent in the gym.
This is a great idea but does not meet any of the criteria we talked about before. What does this mean? What does more consistent look like? Is it going to the gym every day, or every week, or what? How will you know if you do it? I would change this goal to "I will go to the gym 200 times in 2020". This averages out to 4 days a week with two weeks off. I would then encourage this person to pick 4 days and times each week and schedule them in their calendar. I would also encourage them to track their workouts, whether in an app or by marking off on a calendar. At the end of 2020 they will definitely know if they have achieved it or not, and it will definitely have a big impact on their life.
-Stop eating so much junk food
Once again I like where this person's head is at but once again there is no criteria here. How will you know if you achieve it? I would change this to "I will have 1 cheat meal a week". Every other meal will be absent of "junk" food (which will also have to be defined-Sugar? Fast Food? What does this constitute?). You also need to find a way to track this. Every week that you have only one cheat meal you can put an X on a calendar. At the end of the year if you have had 52 cheat meals then you know that you have achieved your goal. You also will probably have greatly changed your health, fitness levels, and body compositions.
-Sleep more
I hope you are seeing a pattern. Yes, sleeping more is very important. What will that look like? This could be better by saying "I will be in bed for 9 hours a night" or "I will have the lights out by 10 every night". Once again if you track these then you will know at the end of the year whether you have achieved them or not.
-Snatch x pounds
This is a pretty common one. People will set a certain performance goal that they want to achieve. I think this is a great goal and much farther along than most. The only thing I would add is the time frame and the plan. If you set the date that you want to achieve your lift then you can reverse engineer your benchmarks. If you need to add 40 pounds in a year then you know you need to add 10 pounds every 3 months. You can then set up a plan to train for 12 weeks and then retest and make sure you are on track. If you aren't then you can adjust your training accordingly.
There are millions of different resolutions out there but most of them are similar to the ones I listed above. If you have a question about your goals or need help setting them or getting a plan please reach out to me. I would love to help you as best as I can. Finally I am going to end by giving you a couple of examples I have set in the past, both good and bad, and discuss the goals I have set for 2020.
One goal that I set and achieved last year was to read 100 books. I achieved this goal (with 5 minutes to spare) because I followed the protocols listed previously. I set a specific amount, and then broke it down into manageable pieces. I knew that I needed to finish 2 books a week in order to achieve it. I made time in the mornings and at nights to read, and I fit in extra reading as needed. I posted the books that I had read on Instagram, which gave me the visual of progress as well as the accountability of knowing that I had put a goal out there and I needed to achieve it. After I set the goal there was no way I was going to let myself not achieve it. A bad goal that I set, on the other hand, was to qualify for the CrossFit Games. This was a lofty goal, yes, but i don't think I set it high enough or gave myself a time frame. A better strategy would have been to give myself a timeline (maybe 3 years down the road) and said that I would get on the podium at the games in 3 years. By setting this timeframe and lofty goal I would have been forced to set a process with checkpoints along the way. It also would have forced me to check off more boxes in my day to day life, making sure that no stone was left unturned. The loftier goal would have forced massive effort on my part. I don't think I ever would have achieved it but I know I would have gotten closer than I did.
Finally, here are two goals that I am setting this year. The first is to workout 250 times and track my food every day. This past year I have sacrificed a lot of training for business, and my health and fitness has suffered. I know that these two things will provide the biggest bang for my buck and will make the biggest change in my life. In order to achieve them I will have to log 5 workouts a week on SugarWod, and MyFitnessPal will track my total days logged. At any time I can look and immediately know where I am in my progress. Another goal that I am setting is to pay off all of my student loans. I still have a few left that need to be paid off but I want to have them all done by the end of the year. I am going to do this by increasing the automatic payment taken out each month so I am paying extra principal, and I am going to make extra payments at the end of each month towards the principal. Once again I have set a process in place (mostly automated) and I can know at any time where I am on my goal.
I hope that this article series has helped you out in your health and fitness journey. Goals can be very powerful tools if used appropriately. Good luck with your goals in 2020 and I hope that this year is bigger and better than you could ever dream of!