Resolution or Goal?

Today is a day where, typically, one makes a "resolution" or two about the new year.

I'm guessing that many of us here have had our issues around setting and living up to resolutions in the past - I know I failed on every weight loss resolution I ever made.

Resolutions to me are hard because they tend to be non-specific.  I'll lose weight (how much? by when? how?)... 

Rather than "resolve" something today, how about spending the first week or two of January thinking about your "goals" for the year?  I'm a very goal-oriented person, and having goals really motivates me.

As Elina has written here in the past, there's a particularly effective way to set goals, using a template called SMART.  

SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable and timely.

Try setting a couple SMART goals for the year, keep them in front of you all year long, they can guide your behavior - rather than dictate it.  

SPECIFIC/MEASURABLE: It's hard to stay motivated if you have a vague destination and no way to measure your progress toward it.  I have a hard time just going to the gym and logging treadmill hours or just lifting weights.  I need a "reason" - for me, training for something specific really helps.  Having an event (5K, Tough-Mudder, Charity walk, Triathlon) makes all the difference in my motivation...  if you've never tried an event before, give it a whirl - you may find it motivating as well as fun!

REASONABLE/ATTAINABLE: In my experience a good goal should be a bit of a challenge. Difficult enough to require thoughtful planning, and then consistent work over the time period specified).  Some goals are BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). It's not bad to have one of those out there as well - something to really push for.

Last year my BHAG was to cycle 5,000 miles.  I made it on the last day of 2013.  I can honestly say that in January of 2013 I had no idea how to get there... but keeping the goal in front of me helped me make it.  

TIMELY: Having a time limit helps put some pressure on you to get going.  

This year, give a goal a try... It would be great to share them here or in your ticker.

All the best for the new year!

Tom

TIP (from Training Peaks):

Bring Goals into the “Physical World”

Once we have our goals, we can bring them into the physical world. Write down your goals and put them in a place where you will see them every day. Create some visual cues and reminders to keep you in tune with the motivation behind your goals. One athlete I worked with found it very useful to put a motivational quote on their phone wallpaper that reminded them every day of why they were chasing their goal. With his goal in his sights and a constant reminder of what was motivating him, he not only reached his goal but ended up surpassing it. Much like taking a major road trip, if we throw out the map and any navigational tools that help us get to our destination halfway through the trip, chances are we may not ever find our destination. Keep your reminders or tools close at hand every day to keep you on the right path.

That is a good set of guidelines to follow for goal setting. My method basically follows this line of thinking and for the last couple years followed through with my goals. They never focused on weight loss, but instead the behavior that would improve my health in some way.

Two years ago my goal was to join a gym by the end of February and go one day a week. This was coming from someone who'd never ever been a member of a gym. I totally followed through. Last year it was to continue my gym membership and to consistently weigh/measure my food for logging instead of eyeballing it, which I had started doing and I know is not accurate. (I was already logging daily, but not always weighing/measuring, so it was easy to do).

This years goals are all about behavior, too, and I feel confident that I will again stick with them.

Excellent way to go - I especially like the idea of "Just getting started" and then incrementally ratcheting up the goals as you go.  It looks like it's working for you, and as somebody famous once said, "Nothing succeeds like success!"  Doing what you're doing will build a solid framework for success and I bet you'll find that you start accelerating in your goal-setting and goal-attainment.

 

Yes. This acceleration is my goal as time goes on. Sustainable & attainable goals elude so many people and then they wonder why they fail. You just can't set some crazy goal when you are starting from nothing or no where near the goal you set. 

Great post, Tom!
Laurie

Another tip and a resource, both from Personal Experience:

If you can swing it... find a coach and pay them to help you.  This REALLY helped me this year in achieving my goals.  One of the single biggest motivators was getting specific "assignments" from my coach - but just as good was this: He put me into a group of others at nearly the same level of ability and encouraged us to work together.  When we had a "long" ride assigned (4+ hours) we tried to ride together.  Through the fellowship and camaraderie thus created, we were all able to stay far more motivated than we could have on our own.

If you can't swing the coach, find a group with similar goals - Meetup.com is fantastic, I've dropped in on several bike rides in different parts of the country using Meetup.  I didn't feel odd about it since they wouldn't advertise on meetup if they were going to be snobby toward drop-ins... I found the cycling community to be extremely welcoming and friendly wherever and whenever I've joined a group - for a year or a day. 

www.meetup.com

Thanks for putting this together. I have a tough time with this--not with the sentiment, I agree with EVERY note. I hope that I can communicate my muddled way of thinking on this subject, in a somewhat clear and concise manner.

CREATING goals towards a proper eating plan is easy, as I need improvement in every area imaginable (keeping them, an entirely different story=sigh). My difficulty is with the physical aspect. I have limited mobility and tend to dwell on what I CAN'T do.
Part of that is because I do not know HOW to set goals for exercise, given my restrictions. Well, it's more that I feel like what I AM capable of isn't worthy of labeling as a goal, so
I put that off until I can do something measurable. Which never happens because I haven't prioritized it as a goal.

Adding to that, my inability, or rather my lack of effort, in working on an appropriate EATING goal, is seriously hampered by a lack of an exercise goal and vice versa. Does this make any sense?

Kind of a vicious cycle. As you so aptly state, " It's hard to stay motivated if you have a vague destination and no way to measure your progress toward it."

Any suggestions out there? Oh, what I am limited to right now, is water exercises and have good and bad days with that.

M

You can only do what you can do... If I'm reading you correctly, you have some serious physical limitations that are very frustrating.

I would recommend working with a physical therapist or other trained professional to determine what is possible and what exercises won't mess you up.  Once you know that, you can set some more realistic goals.

If I'm understanding you, my first specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely goal would be to get a serious assessment of what is possible for me and my situation, and work with a trainer/therapist who understands my condition to develop my next goal.

Don't get too hung up on measurable - it doesn't always mean "how many miles can i walk/run" - sometimes it's doing the NEXT thing to move oneself along a journey.  It's measurable in the sense that it's very specific and you either do it or you don't... 

 

Yes, you understand what I was putting out there. You raise a good point-I need to just get back into the water. At the same time, I will try to get doctor approval to get back to PT, if I am still not released for that, then my 1st exercise goal, using the pool, will be to improve enough to be ready to return to my therapist.

Thank you for helping me work my way through that.