With a new year right around the corner, it’s prime time to start making your New Year’s resolutions. Most people share the same ideas for what goals they’d like to accomplish in the coming year. Some of the more common ones are resolutions to travel or make more money at work, but perhaps the most popular resolution is to lose weight or get in better shape. It’s no coincidence that most people end up setting the same goals for themselves each year. The reason is that they fail to take the proper steps towards success. Why do we fail each year only to try again the following year in vain? The problem can be traced back to the way we go about setting our goals and expectations. The first thing we need to do is differentiate goals from ideas:

Idea: A thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action.
Goal: The result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

Most people have ideas when setting resolutions. It’s a thought that has a possible course of action; the problem is we never take any action on it. What we need to learn how to do is set goals for ourselves. We have a beginning and an end in mind, but we don’t have a proper plan on how to get there. It’s not enough to just set a goal, we need to set SMARTER ones.

S – Specific Goals
The first thing we need to do when setting a goal is be as specific as possible. What is it that we want? Just telling ourselves we’d like to get in better shape or lose weight is too vague. Let’s say we set a broad goal to lose weight in 2012, over the course of the year we might lose 1 pound. Although most people wouldn’t consider this a success story, we still technically lost weight this year. Instead what we need to do is set a specific goal. So if your goal is to lose weight, how much do you want to lose? If you want to get stronger on bench press, how much stronger would you like to be?

M – Measurable
Not only do our goals need to be clearly defined and specific, but they also need to be measurable. We should be able to track our goals to ensure we’re on the right track. Let’s say for example we set a goal for 2012 to lose 20lbs by the end of the year. We can then take this long term goal and give ourselves certain check points:



If we want we can also further break this down by saying each month we should lose roughly 1.67lbs (20lbs. in 12 months). By setting these check points for ourselves, we can ensure we’re on pace to reach our end goal on time.

To make sure we follow through with this time table, I encourage you to share your goals with others. All too often we hold these goals only in our minds because we have a fear of failure or not being able to live up to our own standards. By including our friends and family in our goals, not only are we holding ourselves accountable, but we often times we can rely on these people for support for times when we struggle.

A – Achievable
Now that we have a specific goal which can be measured we need to ensure that our goals are achievable. Again, let’s assume we’re using the example of a specific goal to lose 20lbs, but this time we set a time frame by the end of the week. We can take this goal and make it measurable as well; however it’s very unlikely we’d be able to achieve this amount of weight loss in such a short time frame. The point of any goal is to achieve it at some point. By setting unachievable goals, we’re setting ourselves up for failure and disappointment. On the other side of things, we also don’t want to make our goals too easy. If we make goals that are easily attained, there’s no sense of achievement for us at the end.

R – Realistic
Along the same lines of achievable goals, our goals need to be realistic. This means our goals can’t defy the laws of gravity. Although bench pressing 1000lbs would be nice, it’s very unrealistic that it would ever happen. Since this goal isn’t very realistic, it means it’s also not achievable (which means it shouldn’t be a goal of ours!).

T – Time Sensitive
Now that our goals are starting to take a more defined shape and are both achievable and realistic, we need to make sure they’re also time sensitive. We can do this by setting both timelines and deadlines in conjunction with how we measure them. By doing so we’re able to put pressure on ourselves to come through in a timely manner and achieve them. This is also another area where making our goals public will help motivate us to achieve them. If we’ve been sharing our goals and timeframe to complete them with others, we’ll feel a sense of responsibility to ensure we achieve them when we said we would.

E – Enjoyable and Exciting
One of the ways we can help ourselves achieve the goals we set is by making sure that they’re enjoyable and exciting. If your goal isn’t enjoyable, then why are you doing it? The purpose of a goal is to give you some kind of satisfaction, whether it is how you look in the mirror, hitting a new personal record in the weight room or running the fastest mile you can. The journey you take to complete these goals should excite you. If the thought of doing whatever it takes to reach your goal doesn’t drive you, then it’s going to be very hard for you to stay motivated and consistent.

R – Resources
The last aspect of goal setting we need to discuss is using your resources. This can range from support from friends and family, equipment, gyms, or people who have already accomplished a similar goal. When planning your goals out, it’s a good idea for us to go through and list the exact resources we plan on using. Again, referencing an earlier point we made, our goals should be made public and shared with our resources. That way they’re able to help us in the most efficient manner, as well as lend support.

Now that we know how to set SMARTER goals for ourselves, it’s now time to put these goals into action. Grab a piece of paper and start writing the recipe for your own success. Through proper planning and execution, we’re setting ourselves up to make our resolutions for the new year a reality

__________________

Disclaimer: Hypermuscles.com does not promote the use of anabolic steroids without a doctor's prescription. The information we share is for entertainment and research purposes only.