Building Habits - Goal setting

“If you aren’t assessing, you're guessing”

Having a goal is an essential part of creating strong habits and a process to conquer performance. A good method of goal setting is the S.M.A.R.T acronym:

SPECIFIC – does this goal mean something to you? Will achieving this goal help you on your path to conquer performance?

MEASUREABLE – How will I know when I have accomplished this goal? Load lifted, repetitions achieved, mass increase or decrease or number of sessions completed.

ATTAINABLE – Can this goal be accomplished? With the best will in the world it is unlikely most of us can be the 100m champion at the next Olympics. That is not to say we want our goals to be easy or insignificant.

RELEVANT – If your sole aim is to increase your muscle mass, then a goal of running four times per week is going to be counterproductive.

TIME – Setting a time frame to your goals or to check your progress can help focus your attention.

I like to include an additional letter to the acronym and that is:

SUSTAINABLE – the best way to form consistent and long lasting performance behaviours is to begin with a sustainable performance plan. You may be able to go from a period of inactivity to doing six sessions in the first week, but there are very few people with the ability to flick the switch so easily.

Why not try this process for yourself. Plan a short term goal (six to eight weeks) and medium-term goal (four to six months).

Click here to find a plan to help you ConquerPerformance!