goals

Developing SMARTER Goals....

Be clear and specific about what you want out of a weight-loss program, and you will find many ways — large and small — to get it.....

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Be assured: A goal doesn't have to be something extraordinary or life changing. It can be as simple as wanting to lose ten pounds by your birthday; ridding yourself of blood-pressure medication once and for all; or having enough energy to keep up with your kids. Don't be intimidated into thinking you must have a goal that is perceived by others as dynamic or extraordinary — like losing 100 pounds in a year or climbing ....Mt... ..Everest.........

What makes a goal good? An easy way to ensure success in reaching your objective is to make your goal SMARTER: ....

Specific and clearly defined
Motivating and stimulating
Achievable
Rewarding
Tactical (have tactics, strategy, and discipline)
Evaluated
Revisable ....

An effective goal is specific and clearly defined. Goals should be specific, so there can be no doubt about your intentions and direction. If you set a goal to be as fit and tough as Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, you have not given yourself a clear-enough target at which to aim. Your efforts will lack focus and an effective means of measuring success. A better-defined and clearer goal is: "I'm going to make a commitment to myself for the next three months to get into shape so I can join my company's corporate challenge walkathon." Most studies show that clear and specific goals with a well-defined target are more effective than general "do your best" or "do better" goals. Specific goals also enable people to use and deal with negative and positive feedback intelligently. When your goal is clear and specific, you can answer questions about your objectives and manage criticism from yourself and others. ....

An effective goal is motivating. Although not every goal is going to be huge and thrilling, it should be energizing. Tailor your objectives in a way that fires up your enthusiasm and eagerness to get started. The most helpful approach for creating motivation is to come up with a clearly defined (see above) and challenging (but not impossible) goal that really gets you hopping. For example, let's say you've been wanting for months to carve out some quality time with your partner and you've always been curious about ballroom dancing. Well, sign yourselves up for a class one night a week (with your partner's blessing, of course), so you can do something physically active and spend a fun evening out. This will fuel your motivation in the short-term (you have this activity to look forward to every week) and fits in well with your plan for getting into better shape — a longer-term goal. ....

An effective goal is achievable. One of the most common self-defeating behaviors is setting unrealistic goals — overreaching in order to prove something to ourselves immediately — and then failing to follow through. Set goals that you know in your heart you can and truly want to achieve. You have to know and be honest about your own capabilities and limitations. ....

While your goals should get you excited, they also need to be balanced: Use your knowledge of yourself, taking into account your strengths and weaknesses, plan ahead, and set a realistic time frame. For example, let's say that today you've decided you are ready to start losing weight, and you want to completely overhaul the contents of your kitchen, including the fridge, pantry, cupboards, and utensil drawer, so you can cook all your meals from scratch starting this weekend. This scenario sounds pretty challenging. So challenging, in fact, that you might feel your motivation deflate as you recognize the enormousness and impossibility of the task under such a tight deadline. ....

You can prevent squashing your enthusiasm by breaking this objective down to smaller, more-reasonable tasks that can be accomplished over a longer time period: Maybe this weekend you can clean out the fridge, throw away some of the junk food hanging around your kitchen, and cook one healthy meal for yourself. That's a good short-term goal that will power up your motivation and convince you that your weight-loss program is doable and not overwhelming. Then next week, you can handle the pantry and cupboards, and try another new recipe or two. The week after, you can invest in some new kitchen utensils to bring out your inner chef — further fueling your motivation and helping you to master a more long-term goal. Set reasonable deadlines for yourself, so that you can succeed. ....

An effective goal is rewarding. A target that's too easily reached barely qualifies as a goal in the first place. Try not to underestimate yourself and what you can do. Signing up at a gym and consistently going is a worthy accomplishment, but don't forget to challenge yourself while you're there. Try a class you've never experienced before — like beginners' kickboxing or a spinning class. If you set a goal that's too easy to reach, you stand the chance of losing interest in pursuing it. ....

An effective goal is tactical, strategic, and disciplined. Here's where it's okay to borrow from Angelina Jolie — much like the discipline it takes to train for an action movie, your tactics and strategies are fundamental to the mechanics of reaching a goal. They help you to be flexible under changing or unexpected circumstances while keep your eye on your main objective. If, for example, you were expecting to eat at home tonight, but it turns out you need to go out for a business dinner, then you can draw from you list of tactics and strategies on how to deal with an unplanned-for situation. The good news is that when you routinely marshal your tactics and strategies, you remain committed to a goal and it eventually becomes an automatic response. ....

An effective goal can be evaluated. Goals should be quantifiable and measurable in some way, meaning you should know if you're on the road to success, and when you're going to arrive. The more specific your goals are, the easier it is to evaluate your progress and determine if you're on track. For example, weighing yourself once a week will let you "see at a glance" if you're heading in the right direction. And keeping a food diary would be another good way to keep track of your "energy balance" (calories consumed versus calories burned.). When you're evaluating your progress, however, you need to be sure your methods are objective and accurate. Keep in mind that your weight may fluctuate depending on the time of day. Monitoring your weight-loss progress can be a lot like monitoring the return on an investment in the stock market. While it's important to look at yearly returns, checking on your investment every day could be less realistic than taking the longer view. ....

Reasonably spaced quantitative feedback lets you know where you stand in relation to a goal — whether you need to redouble your efforts, or whether it would be a good idea to come up with a whole new game plan. And, when you're evaluating your progress, you should assess and reflect on your emotions as well, examining how you feel about the changes you're making in your life. Self-assessment and reflection are an important part of evaluation. ....

An effective goal is revisable. Goals need to be updated as circumstances change. For example, if you take on a new position that involves extensive travel, well, your goal to cook most meals at home will no longer be achievable and will need to be revised. You could get pregnant, divorced, married, promoted, demoted, suffer an injury — any number of circumstances could require revising your goals. Making any type of change does involve adjustment. It's just like buying a new pair of shoes. At first you're excited, so you might grin and bear the pain of "breaking them in." If they're a good fit, you'll get through it and wear them time and again. But if they're too big or too small or just plain too uncomfortable, after a while you'll begin to question whether or not they're worth the pain and trouble. The main point is that sometimes your goals need revising because they weren't the right goals to begin with and sometimes they need revising because circumstances have changed. ....

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