SMART goals have long been heralded as a goal-setting life hack, but the truth is that they were invented for managers to set quotas and such for their companies (the original “A” stood for “assignable,” as in, to an employee). Their usefulness in fitness or self-improvement is pretty limited.
That's why you need another type of goal, which I'll call a dream goal. A dream goal is what you really want. It's the thing that inspires you, whether or not it's attainable. You might dream of deadlifting 500 pounds, or hiking the Appalachian trail, or qualifying for the Boston Marathon, or, heck, winning the Boston Marathon. We're not going to shoehorn that into the SMART goal framework. But we can set some SMART goals as benchmarks or process goals to guide our training as we work toward that big dream.
How to dream big while still setting process goals
And the point of a process goal is to put you on the path to your big Dream Goal. I like to think of it this way: Your Dream Goal is a big mountain off in the distance. You know it’s there, but you don’t know exactly how far away it is, or how tough the journey will be. Your process goals are things that will keep you on the path toward that mountain. Packing your bags. Putting one foot in front of the other. Or as Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin puts it (right before telling me I better beat my score from her last burpee circuit): “A goal is a wish. A standard holds us accountable.” We need both.
How to write SMART goals to support your Dream Goals
So, let’s start charting that path. As with any trip up a distant mountain, you won’t know quite what the road is like until you get there. So focus on what’s right in front of you and what you can control.
Dream goal: Run a 5K in 20 minutes or less (someday)
Build up my aerobic base by running a few more miles each week, until I am running 20 miles a week.
Follow the Hal Higdon Intermediate 5K Training Program as written, including the recommended Tuesday and Thursday strength training.
In the week following that 5K: Congratulate myself on finishing, assess my strengths and weaknesses, and decide on a new set of process goals for summer training.
They are all Specific enough that you know exactly what to do to fulfill those goals. (I’ve given a mileage number and picked out a specific training program, but obviously you would choose your own.)
They are Attainable: You have full control of whether or not you go out for a run, show up for a race, etc. (Obviously, if you don’t have full control over this due to life circumstances, you would write a different set of goals that take those circumstances into account.)
They are Time-bound: From this framework, you could sit down and schedule every single run on your calendar for the next three or four months. (You would work backward from the race date to find the start of the training program, and so on.)
This way, you still get to dream big, but you know you’re always on the path to those big goals—at least as long as you want to be. Shoot for the moon, and if you don’t make it, at least you’ve built a damn good rocket ship along the way.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( How to Write SMART Goals That Actually Help You Reach Your Fitness Dreams )
Also on site :