The new year is finally here, it is time for all of us to begin acting on whatever goals/resolutions we have been thinking of for the past few weeks or maybe even days. Some of you might have even came up with your goals for 2010 yesterday. Well, my post today is going to be about the importance of goal setting and how to ensure that you do everything you can to achieve those goals.
Let's start with the "Why", some of you reading this have not officially committed yourself to a specific goal for 2010. I am not referring to a "new years resolution", I am talking about a SPECIFIC goal that you might have in the next 3-6 months. Why is it important to have a specific goal? Since I am in the fitness industry why don't I use nutrition/exercise as an example. If you are not working towards something, if all you are doing is working out, trying to eat the best you can then you are not going to make significant improvements in your physique or your performance. (Before you get upset with me because that is all you are currently doing please read the rest of this post) Goal setting is important in order for you to make progress from where you are right now. Some of you are not completely satisfied with the progress you have made with your exercise/diet regimen, then why not set a specific goal in order to hold you accountable? I could use other analogies other than exercise/nutrition but I will stick to that one for now.
I have been working out (by choice) for 10 years this year. For many of those years I was just showing up to the gym, jogging because I wanted to lose weight, eating what I thought was healthy to have a flat stomach, not really having any specific goal in mind other than I would like to go to the pool, take my shirt off and feel good about myself. Throughout my childhood and teenage years I never experienced that so I was hoping to get there by exercise and diet. Is this a goal? Maybe, but remember I said a specific goal. Many of you have goals that are not specific, you want to lose weight, you want to feel good, you want to eat better...none of these are specific goals.
I would have to say that my first specific goal was the Body For Life Challenge in 2003. If you have ever heard of this challenge or done it yourself then you know what it entails, for those of you that don't, I will briefly describe it. You take a before picture with no shirt, with a side view, you follow a 12 week meal plan and a 12 week workout plan. Then you take an after picture 12 weeks later and mail in the pictures and answer a few questions that get entered into a competition. The winners win a lot of money and a few additional prizes. At the age of 21, that is what I wanted, I wanted to win that competition. Everyday for 12 weeks I did the necessary things in order to follow my meal plan and my exercise plan. At the end of the 12 weeks I really thought I was going to win, my pictures looked amazing, I could not believe the transformation I made. I started the challenge weighing 208 pounds with 16% body fat, I finished the challenge weighing 202 pounds with 6% body fat! The pictures said it all. Unfortunately I did not win, if I did, all of you would know (haha). But where I did feel like a winner was with the lesson that challenge taught me, prior to that challenge I had not set a specific goal in relation to my exercise/diet and I also had never fully committed to a healthy diet. That 12 weeks taught me the importance of both, setting specific goals and eating a healthy diet. Both are essential in order to make progress. Not to mention, it was right after that challenge that I became a Personal Trainer.
Now that you understand the importance of goal setting start thinking of what your goal will be for the next 3-6 months. It could be to run a 5k or maybe a marathon. It could be to not drink sodas for the month of January. Whatever it is you need to make sure that it is within your capability. I don't want you to say you are going to qualify for the Boston Marathon if your best marathon time is 4 hours and five minutes, I mean let's get real. A better goal would be to run a sub 4 hour marathon. Then you never know, lose a few pounds, do a ton of speed work, and in a few years you might just be able to do that. Write your goal down somewhere, look at it as often as possible and tell someone who is extremely close to you. Ask them to support you and hold you accountable. Whatever it takes, work as hard as you have to in order to achieve that goal.
1 Corinthians 9:27
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
No comments:
Post a Comment