Goal Setting: Tips to Stay on Track

With the holidays behind us, reevaluating goals and setting New Year’s resolutions are common tasks for people around this time of year. Whether you want to improve academically, professionally, personally, or on your physical fitness, bringing in the New Year is a great opportunity to look back at the year before, and ponder on how you can improve on the next. But there is often times one common issue among those who start the year creating these goals. How do we work to stick to these goals, stay on track, and most of all, accomplish them? By following these tips, your newly set goals will feel more like a fresh and exciting journey that you are starting on rather than an unattainable and daunting task.

1. Brainstorm Strengths and Weaknesses

Before you can develop a goal or multiple goals, it is important to look at what you did well during the recent past and what you may need to work on for the future. In doing so, you will be able to prioritize what is most important at this time of your life. While fitness related goals are very common, the options are endless and should be specific to you! Whether it’s becoming more organized, spending more time with family, or something completely different, looking at your strengths and possible weaknesses in the past can help to narrow in on what goal you want to pursue.

2. Establish Goals

According to the American Council on Exercise, it is important to create goals that follow the SMART guidelines (“A SMART Guide to Goal Setting”). By following these, goals will be more easily accomplished by planning prior to jumping right in. The SMART guidelines are as follow:

Specific: Goals should be specific and understandable to you and whomever may be helping you accomplish them. For example, if you are working with a personal trainer you will want your goal to be clear and definite so they understand exactly how to help you succeed.

Measurable: Goals should be measured and tracked over time to see what has been achieved. This normally involves a number. For example, a specific number of pounds you want to lose, a personal record you want to achieve, or a number of sales you want to make.

Attainable: When setting a goal, it is critical that goals set are realistic, but also challenging. By setting a goal that is too challenging, you may feel let down and doomed if you do not accomplish it. On the other hand, if the goal is too easy, it might not make as much of an impact to drive you further.

Relevant: Whatever goal you set should be something that feels self-fulfilling. It should be important to you and where you are in your life at the moment.

Time-Bound: Finally, your goal should be bound by a specific time limit. By doing so, you will be forced to follow a strict deadline that will set you up for success. Writing down not only your goal, but a specific date to accomplish the task is another effective way to stay on track.

3. Stay Consistent

Once you’ve developed your goal, remember to stay consistent. Consistency allows you to follow a continuous path instead of falling into the common “I’ll start Monday” mindset. If you're working on getting back in shape, have a consistent workout regimen and stick to it. If you’re trying to eat out less, be consistent with your diet. Consistency is key, but setting aside times to reward yourself is important as well.

4. Track your progress

Last but not least, track your progress over time. Regardless if you prefer tracking by using a journal, pictures, measurements, or whatever else may suit your goal, having a way to look at where you started is beneficial in viewing how you have been progressing over time. While you may find that you are not progressing as quickly as you would like to at times, tracking allows you to clearly see if you are on the right path rather than playing a guessing game.

Although the holidays are an extremely common time for new goals to be made, goals should be made whenever you feel they need to have priority in your life. Follow these tips as a way to reach whatever goal you may be looking to achieve and remember to stay positive throughout the process. While there may be ups and downs, keep a positive and focused mindset and your goals may become reality.

What are your goals for 2018? Have any other tips that will help you reach them? Comment them below!

Sources:

American Council on Exercise Contributor. (2013, November 1). A SMART Guide to Goal Setting. Retrieved from

https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6763/a-smart-guide-to-goal-setting