If you think of it, we set & achieve micro goals every day - Goal setting isn’t just relevant to fitness, but everyday life.
“Get up by 6:00 am”
“Get out the door before X time”
“Making it to work on time”
We don’t achieve them all always, but we (at least most of us) make an honest effort.
Whether it’s a weight loss goal, movement goal, performance goal or whatever it is that you’re looking to do that entails living a “healthier lifestyle”, you need to pick a thing that is giving you focus & direction towards something. Without that North Star to guide you, you might find yourself spinning your tires & not really doing anything except trying to figure out why you’re not going anywhere.
Let me give you some background on my own experience.
Fresh out of elementary school, I wanted to lose weight once I hit high school & get in shape. I was an overweight kid growing up and didn’t appreciate the things that came along with that status.
So, I bought a dumbbell set, and started to work out at home - my Dad taught me a few lifts for me to do, and it was great to get started!
From there, things started to feel limited regarding what I could do (pre YouTube & social media days) with those dumbbells, so I asked my parents to sign me up at a local gym & I was fortunate enough to have them on board with me doing that.
I used all the machines & did all of the things that I could, (within the realm of my knowledge) as well as watched & learned what other people were also doing there. 6 months later, again I felt as if I had not seen much change in my progress. There was a boxing gym that was connected to the fitness gym that I was currently attending, and I approached the head coach and asked him a few questions.
The coach who was there (Legendary Everton McEwan) asked me “How can I help you, brother man?” I had mentioned to him that I wanted to learn combat sport - at the time UFC was becoming more popular as was MMA (mixed martial arts) in general.
He said to me “ Sure you do”
Taken aback, I had asked him for details on the schedule, pricing & details of being in his gym. The next day I went back, and he had one of his students (Fitzroy) put me through the most intense workout I ever had in my life, nearly crawling out of the gym.
I was hooked.
I had told them that I would see them the next day, and yet again I had gotten another response of “sure we will”.
When I came back the following day, they were both dumbfounded that I came back, earning my bones & the privilege to be trained by Everton himself.
We dove into it, and he asked me more specifically what I wanted to do. I had told him about how I wanted to lose weight, and if in the process of that I learned how to fight, that would be pretty cool too. I had told him that I wanted to learn MMA, and he told me “ no man, you’re going to learn how to be a boxer instead, you’re built for that”.
Sometimes you find your sport, and sometimes your sport finds you - in my case, the latter rang true.
There was a specific workout to be done every day when you trained. Running or “roadwork” expectations were to be met, and sparring - lots of sparring.
Because if you want to get better at a thing, you need to do the thing you’re looking to get better at
I had a specific goal - to compete in a boxing match
I had a target for my weight (at the time 135Lbs)
I had a date (in the case of my first fight, November 22, 2007)
It was relevant to what I wanted, weight loss and performance.
In hindsight, all of these things fall into the models we use in lifestyle & wellness goal setting to help keep individuals accountable to achieving those goals they’re looking to achieve.
There are SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Relevant &Time-bound)
and
PACT Goals (Purpose, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable).
While SMART goals tend to focus on the outcome, PACT-based goals focus more on the effort/output of the individual. The right model to choose; is the one that matches the individual their needs, & promotes progress towards their goal.
SMART GOALS
SMART goals allow you to be more dialled into the Specificity of what you’re looking to achieve because the “S” addresses the specificity of what you’re looking to do.
Like any goal, a metric needs to be utilized to determine if you’re making any progress; and if the thing you’re looking to achieve isn’t measurable it's going to be hard to recognize or Measure whether you’re making any progress with it.
How Attainable something is will be dependent on Relevance & on factors that may be outside of your control. Finances, resources, capacity & other factors also come into play when determining a specific goal - it is important to recognize those things as well to best inform yourself if the juice is worth the squeeze for the goal you’re looking to set.
The relevancy of a goal is predicated on many things. Does the goal you setting align with the effort & lifestyle you’re currently living & is it worth the effort you need to apply? Do your goals match with your values & your actions or long-term goals? If not, then maybe this “SMART” goal you’re looking to set might not be as relevant as you may think, and may be making you spin your proverbial wheels. An athlete may want to be fitter, in hopes of having better performance on the field, in the ring, or on the pitch; but the fitter athlete doesn’t always win or perform better, the better athlete performs better. In this specific case, fitness may not be the thing the athlete needs to improve on.
A goal having a Time-bound reference is important in some cases, as we also don’t want to be on a never-never plan of sorts where we’re constantly chasing a goal that never seems to come to fruition. What we do need to manage, however, is time-based our expectations around our ability to meet those time-based goals within the parameters we are setting within that goal-setting session.
PACT GOALS
Pact goals are a bit different from smart goals.
Purposeful: Though we can all have many goals we want to achieve, the ones that align with our values are usually the ones that we tend to approach with more intent & conviction. Identifying the underlying drive to want to reach this goal will help you stay the course during times when conditions are unideal for you, or when you can opt-out of inputting the effort required to move the needle forward.
When we find our purpose is when we stop looking for motivation.
Actionable: Pact goals are more long-term goals that compound over time. Net positive actionable steps daily are the best way you can think of this for pact goals. If I compound small habits over a long period, a lot can change over a year (more on this later).
Continuous: When in the mindset for change, it is important to adopt a growth mindset. The mark of being in a growth mindset is recognizing your willingness to experiment with different things/approaches. Most of the time, there may have been a better way or more efficient approach you could have taken to achieve your goal sooner or maybe there isn’t that’s the thing about not having what-if machines. When we experiment, it allows us to make mistakes and learn from them while we’re on the path to change - these are the invaluable parts of change & growth.
Regardless of the type of goal-setting and approach we take, we need to ask ourselves these fundamental questions to figure out where we’re at v.s. where we want to be.
Asking yourself things like:
“What do I want?”
“ How can I measure my progress?”
“When do I want it by?”
“Why do I want it?”
“Who do I want it for?”
“How will it feel when I get there?”
These are all valid questions to consider when figuring out what you’re looking to achieve - it doesn’t need to fall into a fancy acronym the fitness & health world has decided you need to follow.
For example, If we were to answer the questions above, it could look something like this:
What do I want? : To lose body fat, increase my strength, lose inches, look leaner
How can I measure my progress? : Using my bathroom scale, how my clothes fit, weight moved in sessions, number of workouts in a week.
When do I want it by? : 3, 6, 9, 12 months from now - next birthday, wedding anniversary etc.
Why do I want it? : I want to improve my health, perform work without pain, be able to pick up my kids, move all the groceries from the car in one carry
Who do I want it for? : For myself, for my family, for the people who rely on me being healthy.
How will it feel when I get there? : Unsure, but I’d love to find out!
Along with your overall goal, it is important to also make micro goals within that bigger goal that supports the overall thing you’re looking to achieve.
So, we’ve identified the long-term goal over the year mark. If we broke it down into smaller more palatable goals, it could look something like this:
Losing 1 - 2 pounds per week
Taking Progress Photos as well (The scale doesn’t always tell the entire story)
Looking at shorter-term checkpoints: Birthdays, anniversaries, summertime beach bod, quarterly reviews etc.
Implementing 1 healthy habit every 2 - 3 weeks & stack onto that habit if you’re able to adhere to it 80% of the time
Recognizing that the path you’re on to become healthier is the goal.
You’re investing & promoting your self-care & health.
In my experience with personal training, most goal-setting sessions start with people telling me
“I want to lose weight & get in shape” or “I want to be healthier”
… and then the dance starts
I ask a series of questions to suss out what those things mean, and we figure out what a person wants.
“What does weight loss mean to you?”
“When do you want to lose that weight?”
“Why that specific amount/number/goal?”
“Who are you doing this for?”
“Paint me a picture 3,6,9,12 months from now, how does it feel when you’re progressing towards this?”
“ I want to lose weight “ turns into a story about a feeling someone felt at the beach last year when everyone took their shirt off but felt they couldn’t
I would then ask the person if then their goal was to want to take off their shirt confidently at the beach & they would say yes
(This is very different from wanting to lose weight).
Or
The person doesn’t want to lose weight, but they want to be able to confidently wear an outfit that is more revealing or risqué.
-
“I want to be healthier” actually perpetuated a story about how a client's father passed away when they were a young age & how much they missed them being around, leading to them wanting to be healthier for their kids into old age so they can be around.
I ask to confirm then, that the goal is longevity & to make the person harder to kill - & they would agree.
Or
Healthier means to the person that when they go through their everyday life, they don’t want to feel any limitations in their ability to garden, perform chores, not be in pain & have healthy blood work.
It’s my job as a coach to suss out what it is exactly someone is looking for, & it's not a knock on anyone; most people don’t know what they want, because they seldom ask themselves these kinds of questions in the first place - myself included.
——
But, it’s not always this straightforward. Some people don’t have specific goals, and that's okay too. Your goal can be to have a goal. Not everyone comes from a traumatic experience, a story that made them feel inadequate, or even any sort of athletic background. For some, walking in that door was the goal & now that they did that, they have no clue where to go from there.
There's a story I came across on a podcast once about goal setting, referring to an NFL player wanting to make it to the NFL as a young boy. He had made it to the league, but once he got there he didn’t play very well.
The goal shouldn’t necessarily be something to check off & complete but should perpetuate constant growth & improvement on the route to it. A goal that would be reflective of this would have been for that same player to want to be the MVP for multiple years in a row - or break multiple records.
In the case of the general population client, it may look something like
“ I want to be strong & achieve a balanced life”.
- Being able to move with strength in new, meaningful & different ways
-Achieving a life of balance, meaning any sort of relapse doesn’t lead to feelings of catastrophic failure.
The easiest way I could encourage someone to identify their goals is to ask themselves:
“What ways could I change my life to make it more enjoyable?”
“How can I improve my quality of life?”
“ What is the legacy you want to leave? “
“ What is your purpose?”
“ What is your mission?”
Finding the answers to these questions can be difficult, and at times those answers can evolve & change - but it is important to understand how to help someone navigate through challenging times when on this quest for positive growth & change.
It also does not need to be super complicated. You can make it as simple as writing your goal down & looking at that written goal every day with honestly asking yourself if the lifestyle choices you’re making are conducive to the goals you have set.
-
“I’ve got my goal, now what?”
What you need to keep in mind is this saying:
“ Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it burned in one”
Meaning, that important work takes time.
If you’re trying to lose weight, improve performance, change nutrition, be healthier, live a balanced life, fit into old outfits, and hit a 5km PR time all within the next month, that's a guaranteed way to “burn Rome in a day” if you’re just starting.
Biggest takeaways:
Start by changing one thing - and be a rockstar at that new thing
When you focus on one target, it becomes easier to not only hit that target but gain momentum to take on targets further away.
Habit stacking is a great way to do this, for example:
Goal 1:
What: Drink more water (increase by 1/2 a litre from current intake)
How: Get a large water bottle for areas you frequent
Why: Increased water intake can lead to improved health & weight loss via lipolysis, as well as reduces false hunger cues masked by dehydration.
Perform this habit for 2 weeks and re-assess adherence & success
If you hit your goal 80% of the time in 2 weeks (11/14 days) build on this habit.
Goal 1a:
What: Increase step count by 500 steps per day (extra 5 - 10 minutes of walking /day)
How: Get a smaller water bottle or only fill up your old bottle halfway so you have to get up more frequently to fill it resulting in more movement/steps
OR
set a movement alarm on your phone for a 5-minute walk/break
Why: Increased step count & movement result in less sedentary behaviour & can generally lead to a reduction in pain symptoms
Perform this habit for 2 weeks and re-assess adherence & success
If you hit your goal 80% of the time in 2 weeks (11/14 days) build on this habit.
Goal 1b:
What: Stretch areas of tightness when you get up to fill your water bottle
How: Stepping through a doorway, you can stretch your chest/shoulders. Tight hips, old-school classic standing quad stretch
Why: Stretching an area that feels “tight” improves overall pain perception & can aid in pain reduction long term.
How: Find stretches for areas you feel are tight when you stand up via my YouTube page!
Perform this habit for 2 weeks and re-assess adherence & success
If you hit your goal 80% of the time in 2 weeks (11/14 days) build on this habit.
It started with drinking more water on week 1, and 6 weeks later finished with:
Drinking 3.5 extra Litres of water per week
Getting 3500 extra steps per week (3.5km)
Reducing pain & moving with better/more intent
Those are pretty big changes over 6 weeks. The real magic in those changes, however, comes from the success of achieving those goals for yourself & stringing those small wins together to build momentum in perpetuating positive change - Building Rome!
If you’ve never had a goal-setting session before, or feel like you’d like to see what it is all about - You can click this link here to get access to my calendar & book a call to help you identify your goals.
In closing, understand that not achieving a goal doesn’t necessarily equate to or should be considered a failure, but should be reframed as recognizing that you tried to push past where your current capacity is.
The only way to find the edges of your capacity is to try & push past them.
Oh, and I won my first fight, Thanks Coach E!