Last week we discussed goal setting and the difference between outcome based goals and behavior based goals. If you haven’t established your goals yet, click here to gain more traction on setting realistic goals.
Once you’ve developed your behavior based goals, the next step is measuring where you are now in relation to your goal. For instance, if your goal this year is to build strength, you must first measure your current abilities; how much can you bench press? How many squats can you perform before failure? It’s important to establish a clear starting point before selecting and commitment to the actions required to reach your goal.
The actions required to reach your goal are called action steps, and they should be small and specific. “I’m going to consistently workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 12:00pm” is an example of committing to an action step. The key is to follow through on those commitments! If consistently working out is a problem for you, make it a priority by placing an appointment on your calendar, treat it like any other important meeting and make it a priority not to cancel on yourself.
Another example of a small action step is supplementing consistently. If your 30 day vitamin supply is lasting 2 or 3 months, you know there’s going to be a problem in reaching your goals because there’s a problem in your consistency.
There’s no magic pill, there’s no secret to it, reaching your goals is as easy as consistently performing your action steps. Take the time to develop these habits now before life gets busy, before spring break or another holiday.
