When your long term goals feel a bit daunting, it is of great benefit to set short term targets to focus on; some of which might be related to Non Scale Victories, some directly related to the scale.
Many of you might be familiar with the concept of SMART goals because of your career or business aspirations. This concept can easily be applied in the area of health and wellness. The SMART framework is an effective strategy for creating and focusing on more specific and attainable goals. Additionally it provides benchmarks against which you can measure your progress — if you have a larger, more daunting goal, smaller steps can help you remain motivated. SMART goals are important to set as they:
When you make goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely, you're increasing your odds for success by verifying that the goal is achievable, identifying the metrics that define success, and creating a roadmap to reach those metrics. If your goals are abstract, if you don't know what it will take to achieve success, or if you don't give yourself a deadline to complete steps, you may lose focus and fall short of what you want to accomplish. For example, perhaps you have a long term goal of losing 65lbs, completing your first marathon, breaking your 5x per week beer habit and getting off the blood pressure meds you’ve been on for 10 years. That’s a life transformation for sure and will require a lot of determination, patience and a tenacious drive. Sadly, many would set out towards this all encompassing long term goal through diet & exercise and lose steam very quickly as it’s too much of an undertaking. Perhaps your first SMART goal is to walk 7,000 steps per day. Ask yourself:
Map it out by answering the questions shown on the meme next to each letter of the acronym, and off you go towards your first SMART goal! When you achieve it, set your next SMART goal and off you go again. As you are focusing on your SMART goal, you will be working on the big picture as well. You might be following a diet, a training plan, transitioning to a bit of a different social life, trying new activities; we can do many things at once. But it’s the SMART goals that help us to not feel overwhelmed by the long game. If you are working with a PLT Nutrition coach, talk to them about setting a target, about what your next SMART goal should be. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Paul Leonard, CEO & founder of PLT Nutrition. Categories
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