“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” – Laurence J. Peter
Setting goals and making a plan is one of the most important things you can do to achieve success. This is true for almost anything you’d like to accomplish and is ceratinly true for meeting your health goals.
The first step is to start with your current state of health and determine where you would like to be. For example, you may have elevated cholesterol and BMI putting you at risk for heart disease and you now desire to lose some weight and start eating healthier.
After identifying what your overall goal is (for example, lose weight and lower cholesterol) you’re now ready to make some goals, SMART goals. These goals are Specific, Measureable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time Sensitive. They’re the small steps or goals needed to guide you with the appropriate actions that lead to your overall goal.
Specific
Your goals need to be clear and state exactly what you want to happen. You should know when you’ve reached your goal. For example, instead of the goal “I want to exercise more”, you would change this to “I will walk 3 times for 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next month”.
Measureable
You need to measure your progress so SMART goals usually have a number associated with it. The previous example illustrates this with “I will walk 3 times for 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next month”.
Action-Oriented
SMART goals have action associated with it and focus on what you need to do rather than the end result. The previous example demonstrates this by “walking 3 times for 30 minutes”.
Realistic
SMART goals are challenging however they’re achieveable. Don’t set yourself up for failure by making the goal too lofty so that you fail. On the other hand, make it challenging enough so you push yourself a bit. In the previous example which sets the goal for 30 minutes for each walking session would be fine for someone who is going from 20 minutes in previous weeks and is now advancing but would be too much for a beginner.
Time Sensitive
SMART goals have a clear target to work towards and have an end point so you can then evaluate your progress and make changes to the goal or plan. The previous goal sets an end point of one month however you can set it for 2 weeks or less so you can evaluate your progress sooner.
Sit down and map out a plan that includes many SMART goals to get you where you want to be. They work!! Use this SMART Goals Worksheet to help you and place it some where visible to keep you reminded of your SMART goals. Keep a journal to track your progress. Good luck.
By Vincent Alvarez, RDN, NSCA-CPT