Part and parcel to the whole genie gig of my job is to write up a newsletter 4 times a year. Here follows the articles on goal-setting that were in there.
What’s Your Goal? By Carrie Moritz
“I want to lose weight” is a common goal for those who come in to The Exercise Place for a membership. That’s great! You’re taking the first step. However, 95% of the people with that goal will never see it. Why is that?
For one thing, it’s great to have a big, general goal like that in mind, but it doesn’t outline any steps or small goals along the way. Sure, you want to lose weight. One trainer takes out a hacksaw when his clients say that, and proceeds to show them how quickly they could lose 25 pounds: “You said you wanted to lose 20 pounds fast. This is the easiest, surest, most effective way I know to take 20 pounds off you FAST! In fact, I figure that right leg of yours might even weigh 25 pounds!”
All right, so very few people want to lose a leg in their quest to lose weight. What can you do? The first step is to make your goals specific. Change the above statement to something like, “I will lose 25 pounds of fat in 16 weeks.” The second step is to outline your action steps. Actions are the only thing you can control in your quest for the body you want. Eating 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, exercising at a moderate-to-intense intensity 4-5 days per week, cutting down on (or eliminating) processed foods are all good action steps to take.
Even by doing the two goal-setting steps above, you will increase your chances of moving into that elite 5% of people who reach their goals. More on goal-setting next month!
And part deuce:
It is human nature to have some type of goal at all times. Some goals are easier to attain than others. Others are able to succeed at some goals while “failing” at others. Has this happened to you? Think about a goal you have succeeded at. Was it difficult, or did it come easily? Now think about when you set that goal in the first place. If you found that you were able to take just a few steps and you accomplished it, then it means that your goal was an attainable one because you only needed to take those few steps. Now think of a goal you haven’t attained. How many steps do you need to take to attain it? Is it more than three? If so, then it may still be beyond you, and you may need to set a sub-goal that is closer to where you are at currently. For example: Lynn wants to lose 80 pounds. In order to do that, she must learn to like vegetables, cut back on snack foods, and exercise for 30 minutes 5 days per week. However, there are more steps involved than she thinks. First, if she doesn’t like vegetables, that means she doesn’t know how to buy, store, or prepare them (three steps right there). Second, she begins exercising 5 days per week (when she hasn’t exercised at all previously). If she starts both of these things too quickly, she will become easily frustrated and give up. There are too many steps in her goal right now. She may be more successful if her overall goal is the 80 pounds and her sub-goals (the steps she must take to achieve it) are: try one new vegetable a week for 6 weeks or walk for 10 minutes two times per week. Once she has accomplished one of those goals, she will be successful and will find it easier to move on to the next step, which may be to increase her exercise time to 20 minutes two times per week.
Don’t be afraid to take it slow! You may have steps that need to be taken before you can accomplish your big goal, but by taking those little steps you will achieve it!
