This is the time of year that many people will make goals or New Years Resolutions for the New Year. I know that I do this every year.
We also hear that most people fail in these resolutions. There may be a lot of reasons why people fail in their resolutions, the primary though are that they are not actually important to them but more importantly they are too vague and are not SMART goals, goals created properly.
So this year I want you to create really good SMART goals, may as well give yourself a
If you do not have clear goals to keep up your motivation at this point, you can easily lose your way.
Creating SMART Goals
So take some time right now to write down your goals.
Like any goals that you might set in work or life, your goals in bodybuilding, in fitness, or diet should be S.M.A.R.T. – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Based.
Let’s look at what each of these smart goals parts means in terms of bodybuilding workouts.
SMART Goal – Specific
SMART Goals
A specific smart goals is one that clearly says what you want to accomplish, along with how, when and where you will do it.
‘Get a great body’ is not a specific goal.
‘Go to the gym 4 days a week after work and train to build muscle mass’ is a more specific goal.
Even better, say exactly which muscles you will work on which days, and note down your routine. The routine for your bodybuilding workouts will change as you make progress but the overall goal of going to the gym 4 days a week to build muscle mass will remain the same.
SMART Goal – Measurable
When you are working toward smart goals, it is very important to have some way to measure your progress.
If your goal is losing weight then you need to make it number specific. Try maybe lose 20 pounds or something. Then you can break this down to two pounds a month which would be also measurable each month. If you can easily track that in a diary or spreadsheet then you know it is measureable. But with a goal like ‘get a great body’, there is nothing to measure. So if you want to set goals in terms of the physical result, do it in terms of inches gained or that you can lift.
SMART Goal – Attainable
It is important to know when you have reached your smart goals. That way you can plan a reward or celebration, have a sense of achievement and start thinking about your goal or achievement.
If you have a goal or resolution to change jobs then you would have to have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do that other job or a plan to get those skills otherwise it is not attainable.
If you have a fitness goal lets say to increase your bench press single weight and have a plan you can work with that makes sense then it would be attainable.
Remember to make a goal attainable all you need is to be able to believe in the steps that will take you there.
SMART Goal – Relevant
Your smart goals needs to be something that are very important to you. Sometimes people will come up with goals that are important to those around them or “status goals” that are not important to anyone.
What would get you really jazzed up? Do you care about losing weight? Do you care about starting a new business? Do you care about writing a cook book.
To me this is one of the most critical points of getting your SMART goals to work. Your goal has to be exciting to you today as well as 6 months from now. A goal without passion is just an unattainable wish.
SMART Goal – Time Based
Whatever type of smart goals you set, it is good to give it a time frame. Remember that a New Years Resolution does not have to take a day or a year. Lose 10 pounds in 2 months? Read 3 books a month for the first 3 months of the year?
Be specific about how much time you have to achieve your goal, and you will be set for success in any goal. Clarity of time is important so that you can build steps to get you to achieve these goals.
Example of My Patio Goal
One of my goals this year will be to rebuild the patio. I know that this is not a SMART goal at all so this is how I am changing it up. Notice that this is not all about me but also the family and in the cold of Calgary it will not even be started physically for a few months yet.
Here are the SMART parts of this goal
Specific – We want to rebuild our deck and patio this year
Measurable – The deck will be final with new wood and paint, the patio will be cemented, all by the end of July (enjoy it for August and September)
Attainable – We will be setting a budget, I do not have the skills to do all of the work so we will be making a project plan that fits our budget and schedule, as well as any skills that I need and will be taking time in May and July to work on this
Relevant – Our backyard is an eyesore and my wife and I as well as the kids would enjoy that area far more if it would be better built. Also we are tired of people walking by and wincing when they see our deck from the alley
Time Based – As stated before this is a project that will be Finished by the end of July but will be started in March or so when we can really have a good idea of what we need and budget what we can do with our backyard
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