Setting Personal Goals
The structure of your goals plays a significant role in their realization. It is extremely important that you are realistic and specific with yourself while also setting short-term sub-goals along the way.
We have recently published a few articles on this topic here. The process of finding your “why?” takes a little bit of thought and time but is vital to your progress as an athlete and can really help you in other areas of life. It helps you allocate your time to tasks that will help you get to your desired destination and gives you purpose. There’s no doubt that most of us work hard most days, we just want to make sure that hard work is justified by getting us to where we really want to go. This is the most important part of the process. It helps you make goals you actually care about.
Make sure it excites you
If you have set a goal towards something you really want then it should excite you. Achieving a goal takes consistent work and that work isn’t going to get done without an enthusiasm for the result or a love of the process. The quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson of
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
argues that this is a must in order to achieve something worthwhile. A good indicator that you have made a exciting goal is that you get nervous just thinking about it.
Be Specific
It’s easy to just say “I want to look good in a swim suit” or “be fit” but these are subjective and vague. Tracking progress with measurables is a fun part of the process and is a motivator in itself. Make you choose specific measurable goals to make your journey more likely to end in success.
Good Specific Goals:
-Run a mile in 5:00 (I really like this one)
-Lower my body fat percentage to 12%
-Increase my back squat to 300lb
Vague Goals
-be fit and healthy
-decrease my WOD times
-get better at basketball
Create Deadlines and Subgoals
You must make deadlines for your goals or they will never end. I personally don’t like goals over 6 months because it is easy to lose track of things so far in the future. If a goal is that far in the future then you must make small subgoals on the way to the larger goal. Hitting these subgoals just fuels your engine and brings more enthusiasm to the overall goal. Specific dates are huge motivators and keep you from procrastinating.
I once set a goals of dunking a basketball. This goal is specific enough but I didn’t put a deadline on it and didn’t put subgoals on it so it got lost in life. This is a difficult to measure because it’s either a dunk or not but I could’ve videos or measures my vertical jump. Lack of deadlines and progressing tracking can derail even a specific goal.
Kyle
Coach Kyle G’s Goals
I have been working out faithfully following the WODathome.com programming over the last 3 years and have seen great improvements in both my physical fitness and appearance. I’ve seen the difference in my body, seen lower WOD times and achieved cool milestones like bar/ring muscle ups without intentionally aiming for it. That’s really the extent of my documentation. I only know my fitness is much better than before. Lately I’ve found myself in a fitness plateau and have lacked motivation. I’ve achieved the improved fitness that I desired and am still motivated by competing with WOD partners and myself but I lacked fitness direction. To re-invigorate my fitness I’ve decided to create some goals for myself. These are things that get me excited! Some I’ve always “wanted” to do and just thought somehow they would magically happen. Others I just thought would be awesome to achieve.
I plan to achieve these goals using WODathome programming mixed with 1 track day per week and some extra concentration on the goals. I invite everyone to join with me in either joining me in the same goals as me or creating new goals that get YOU excited. These goals really can be anything but they must bring excitement to your fitness routine. I would love to hear all of your goals and post your progress along with mine on the site.
-5 minute mile by January 31, 2015 (My 30th Birthday)
Running middle distances is actually a strength of mine because I’m 6’3 and have long strides and I’ve never put any effort into achieving something significant. I don’t have any desire to spend the time training for longer races like marathons so I chose a mile. It shouldn’t take too much of my time train or do ……… hopefully only 5 minutes!
-10:00 minute Alternating Laps with Partner by November 15, 2014
(This goal has been achieved and it was really fun. Check out the write-up)
This goal is specifically fun because it is shared. Jeremy (my friend) and I created it based off a workout one day at a track and thought it would be fun to set a goal. I highly recommend this type of goal because it provides many of the benefits of being a team. It keeps you accountable and is something fun to do with a friend/significant other. The fitness level of your partner isn’t too important but could change the amount of time you are resting depending on how long his/her lap takes. The longer you get to rest the faster you should be able to run.