One of the secrets of having fitness as a life-companion is that it turns you into a little bit of a goal digger. You may already be a rugged completionist; the person in your friend group who goes out of their way to get every Starbucks reward possible, who completes every side quest before calling a video game finished, or maybe you can’t step away from a jigsaw puzzle until order has been restored. If so, you have the makings of a gym goal digger.
We mostly all know how to set goals, we do it for ourselves every day in life: getting a certification for work, saving for a vacation, setting aside time to volunteer. We’d never help our child or an employee set a goal that’s not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). So, I ask from a purely logical place: why do we make our fitness goals “unsmart”, or lacking the basic building blocks of being achievable? It almost seems like we’re trying to sabotage ourselves.
When most people start a new fitness program, they go into it without giving any thought to what SMART goal they’re looking to achieve. Instead, they articulate a very general “get in shape” or “lose weight” goal. I’m not here to discourage anyone from being active, but I do think that the physical energy you’re willing to put into “getting fit” should probably be paired with some mental energy on what fit means to you and what specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound micro-goals make that up.
When I first started this adventure, my overall goal was to not be classed as “obese” (it was specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant, but not time-bound). When I considered how to make the goal time-bound, I realized that I needed to tie specific goals to specific dates, without fixating on the scale’s weight. My way of managing this was by creating fitness challenges where the time frame was tied to holidays, since they already give me natural, pre-established checkpoints. My first goal began in January and was to be consistently walking up 10 flights of stairs a day by Valentine’s Day. A small goal, but a step in the right detection.
I managed to reach my goal by late January, a full 2 weeks before schedule. So, I added in taking an afternoon walk for 15 minutes at least 3 times a week. By Valentine’s Day, I met that goal as well. I kept going and at the age of 40 I managed to qualify for the Boston Marathon. No one was more surprised than I was.
What I learned in this period of growth was that my brain thrives on small, achievable challenges. I managed to become a goal digger by leveraging my natural completionist tendencies. I still use the same technique today: one more rep, two more sets, an extra 5 pounds on the bar…incremental, but steady, measurable progress.
As you embark on your path toward sustainable fitness, my advice is to give it the same level of mental energy you’re going to give it physically.
- Evaluate what makes you tick, what activates your brain’s reward system.
- Then, create your goals, make them SMART, and remember to reward yourself when you meet them.
- Don’t measure your progress every day, that’s a fool’s game, evaluate your movement toward the goal based on your preset date.