Making goals is a huge part of any healthy lifestyle. Whether you are trying to lose weight, fit your clothes better, increase your confidence, or boost your energy, having a goal is essential in order to help you get what you want. But making goals isn’t easy. A lot of the times we have goals that are too big, or we want them too quickly and give up when we don’t see results happening like we expect. Sometimes the goals we make aren’t possible -- like losing 30 pounds in 10 days or going down to 4% body fat. Researchers have said that writing down your goals makes you more likely to achieve them, but no matter how hard you write down your goals you aren’t going to lose 10 pounds in a day. This is why the trainers at CNU Fit always say to make your goals S.M.A.R.T: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Time-bound. But you can’t make S.M.A.R.T. goals without thinking through four questions: What do you want? - this speaks to the specificity of your goals. You need to know exactly what you want, otherwise it’s like stumbling around in the dark without a flashlight -- you kind of know where you’re going, but have no idea how to get there without making a wrong turn or bumping into things. Why do you want it? Author and speaker Simon Sinek wrote a wonderful book on knowing your why called Start with Why. Knowing why you have a goal or why you are doing something is going to give you the inspiration you need to have the motivation to reach your goals. So if you’re doing it to be around for your kids, or because you want to feel better about yourself, use this to fuel you! When do you want it? By what time do you want to reach your goals? This is where you need to be realistic with yourself. You can’t run a mile and lose a pound of fat, you can’t lose 30 pounds in 10 days, you can’t suddenly transform yourself overnight. Fitness isn’t magic. What it is, is a culmination of little life choices that add up to huge results. But those results take time. Knowing when you want to reach a goal will determine how much time and effort you have to put in on a daily basis. What are you willing to give up? You can’t reach any goal without giving something up. In order to achieve a healthy lifestyle, this might mean giving up the cookies and cake, or the midnight junk food that you’ve always loved; this might mean giving up 30 mins of TV time everyday to go to the gym and sweat; and this definitely might mean giving up the notion that you can’t do it. If you’re willing to do what it takes, then you’ll reach your goals. But if you can’t, get ready to face disappointment. We hope you’ll be able to set and achieve your goals a little easier now that you know what to ask yourself. And know that support is one of the best ways to help get you where you want to go, so don’t be scared to reach out to a friend or professional personal trainer! They will guide you in the right direction.
