Setting Realistic Goals

If you read this post, you’ll know that I am working on some goals for this summer. I really wanted to ignite my fitness drive back up so I decided to plan out some goals to give me more motivation on working out every day. The goals are mostly body weight goals. Two goals, however, stood out a little bit: running 3 casual miles and being able to touch my toes. Along with my other goals, they just didn’t make sense. Just because they’ve been longtime goals, I wanted to throw them in my mix of body weight goals (which aren’t easy, mind you). However, with my busy work schedule and all my home hobbies and chores, I was stressing to fit everything in in one week. 

So, I decided to look at my goals and make them more reasonable. I kept all my body weight goals, but am postponing my running and “yoga” goals for the Fall where I can really focus and achieve them. When you’re sitting down, thinking about your goals and mapping them out, it’s easy to be over-eager and reaching. We have hopes and dreams and can envision ourselves being our best selves. While that all is supremely important, it’s also important not to set yourself up for failure. Here are some steps to set realistic, achievable goals:

1. Write down a first draft of all you want to achieve. Remember when I talked earlier about not setting yourself up for failure? Ignore that and just write down what you truly want, even if it’s all a little much. 

2. Decide on a timeline for these goals. Is this a six-week thing? Three-month? Even a year? Timelines are vital for goals. Set yourself to it. 

3. Think of a theme. This is vital for the next steps. You don’t want a bunch of random goals together–they should make sense. For example, mine are all “body weight” goals like pull-ups and push-ups–that’s why I took out running and touching my toes.

4. Finalize your goal(s). Now is the time to go back to those goals and make them what you will become. Take the list back a few steps: think about your set timeline and think about what you can realistically accomplish. Take your work hours, your work intensity, all your responsibilities and weigh them with your goals. Decide what is a challenge, but possible. We want success.

5. Build workouts to achieve them. Here comes the fun part (at least for me). With each goal, write up the best exercises and workouts for it. Not sure what those are? Ask a personal trainer or better yet–ask US in the comments below!

6. Put it in your face. All my goals right now are in the whiteboard in the living room. I see them day and night and they are in my mind: they give purpose.

Setting goals may seem very simple and quick, but it takes time and complexity to build ones that will work for you as you work for them. Willpower and determination are key for achieving those goals. If you have any questions about anything in this post, please leave a comment below! Setting realistic goals is a key way of becoming hungry and fit!

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