Setting realistic goals for the year ahead
It's a new year and a time when many people look to focus on on making changes for the year ahead, write down resolutions and take the first steps to making changes in lifestyle, diet, fitness and more.
You’re more likely to succeed if you recognise that making changes needs a longer and broader term view across everything you do, so it is a good starting point to look at where you are currently, and then use that as the benchmark to measure your change. The goals you want to be setting for yourself need to be achievable goals for a 3-6-12 month period.
Being close to the start of a new year, this is an ideal time to get your ambitions down, and if you set them well, you'll be able to keep tracking them as you progress, and don't let them fall by the wayside.
Exercise and fitness is just the same as other areas of life in that you have to put in the hours to become proficient and you have to accept that there is NO QUICK FIX.
You won’t magically become super fit, super athletic and/or strong, but if you set realistic goals, you will be able to monitor and see the progress you are making along the way and be able to see the overall gains.
Here are our tips for goal setting..
- Give yourself a realistic number of goals: between 3 and 5 is the recommendation and if you can look at both performance goals and development goals. A performance goal is where you are focussed on achieving a result A development goal is where you are developing skills and competencies that will help you achieve other goals.
- Be realistic for your starting point.. don’t make things difficult for yourself by aiming too high, too fast, or conversely, too easy straight away…
- There are a number of ways to help you define goals - I’m going to use one that is also popular in personal and management development.
SMART Goals :SMART means it is:- SPECIFIC - well defined, describing particular actions and you are clear on what the goal is.
- MEASURABLE - the objective can be measured in quantifiable terms and you are able to detail what successful achievement of the goal will look like.
- ACHIEVABLE - The goal is realistic based on your skills and experience and the time and resources you have available in the time allocated
- RELEVANT - the goal should add value and meaning together
- TIMED - the goal should have timescales of what is required, when and have an appropriate sense of urgency.
Learning from the previous year..
I managed to hit my main goals last year, but still take some good learnings from 2019.
1. To "run" an Ultra, I need to do more mileage and across more trails than my training for the RTS
2. I appreciated that I can't do everything at the same time... to reach a running goal, it has to be the main focus, with complimentary work.
3. The ambition to run an Ultra is still with me..
Next Blog will be more specific on the goals I am setting for the year ahead..
Bye for now.
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Coming up in the next month..
Challenges: What is next for 2021?
Articles/Blogs: Finding the right exercise for you...
