Getting Back in the Saddle - Goal Setting

I'm slowly getting back in the saddle of training following my last race.  I had a nice month traveling the world, allowing for some mental and physical rehab.  Two weeks into December though and it is time to start looking ahead to 2016.  With that in mind, I thought a post of goal setting would be appropriate. The below article was originally written for Carlsbad CrossFit's blog.

Well, we are approaching that time of year again where some will shoot for the stars on resolutions only to be disappointed by late January.  I’m going to offer three helpful hints today about how to go through the goal setting exercise.

Framing

The first step is to do a comprehensive life inventory.  What are your priorities in life: family, work, and/or fitness?  Whatever it may be, this should be guiding you in your goal setting.  Having properly framed where you are can set the stage nicely for assessing what your goals will be.

Organizing

The next step is taking this framed outlook of your life and organizing your goal ideas into different categories.  For ease of use, I typically lump my goals into three general categories:  Mind, Body, and Soul.  Each of these topic areas is fairly self-explanatory.  I’ve found it helpful to have 3-5 goals in each of these categories for a well-balanced plate of goals.

Conducting Research

One of the critical steps for developing SMART goals (see insert) is to do some basic research on your goal.  Trying to lose 10 pounds per week for 4 weeks might sound great on paper and look feasible on The Biggest Loser, but it’s definitely not safe, nor is it recommended.  As you are writing up some ideas for your goals, now is the time to do some basic research and know what you’re signing up for.  Having said that, some of those goals should make you uncomfortable.  Your goals should drive you to take an extra focus on a particular area of your life and seek to achieve beyond what you originally thought possible.

Now that you’ve gone through the above three steps, write out your goals.  It could be on scratch paper, saved electronically, in picture format.  Whatever fits for your personality, do it.  It’s really up to you on how you want to manage the process.

Other Thoughts

Below are some other helpful hints for being successful while working towards your goals.

Plan your day/week around your goals – An easy way to accomplish any goal is to set small milestones along the way. This could be done on a daily basis to make sure you’re always moving forward. (Think food prep for a goal of healthy eating)

Reassess your goals quarterly – Life happens.  Sometimes that means you need to change things around or completely remove a goal.

Add an accountability factor to your goals – Go ahead and publicize your goals (those you’re willing to share) and have the community hold you accountable.

Do not fear failure – Even after going through the process, you’ll likely bite off more than you can chew on some goals.  It’s OK.  Keep grinding. If you come up short, it’s not the end of the world.  There are hundreds of examples of people taking initial failure and turning it into success.

With this in mind, it's time for me to go set some goals for 2016.