Effective Goal Setting

Effective Goal Setting

Effective goal setting is synonymous with improving your fitness, losing weight, achieving a physical challenge and just about any other task in life.

But I think we’ve been setting our goals all wrong. Too many goals are missed, so with a little reverse engineering, what is the problem with goal setting, assuming the person does actually want to achieve their goal?

I think the problem often is that we focus on our ‘ultimate’ aim – a weight loss target, a strength target, a body fat percentage. We set goals that are too big, too long, too far away. They can seem intimidating and frustrating, especially at the start when the ultimate achievement is long away in the future.

In most cases, a big goal takes a long time to reach. The problem though is that often big achievements take so long, are so far away that it doesn’t matter if you aren’t acting towards their achievement – you can ‘start on Monday’.

Unfortunately though, Monday never comes. It remains elusive, just like your achievement.

I’ve adopted a way to get around this. I’m setting a short term goal and will re-set these goals often.

If you break down any goal (a good move, by the way), a simple revelation unfolds…

Good hours make up good days. Good days make up good weeks. Good weeks make up good months. Good months make up good years.

With enough good days working toward your aim, you will get there, no question.

Remember goals aren’t achieved by accident. You have to do something towards their achievement. All of the effective goal setting in the world will do nothing if you aren’t willing to do the work.

One of my New Years Resolutions this year is to cycle 600 miles in the year. I’ve made similar goals before, but haven’t really hit them.

Until this time. I’m hitting this one. I’ve broken it down – I’ve adopted an effective goal setting approach, a much shorter term goal than a 600 mile target with a year in which to do it.

Here’s the way I’ve broken it down…

600 miles/12 months = 50 miles per month.

Simple isn’t it?! All I have to do is ride 50 miles per month. I’m sorry if you were expecting some amazing formula, but nope, I’ve just broken my year goal into monthly chunks.

Now you may think I started this blog post by suggesting you go for a daily goal, and I think in the case of weight loss, fitness improvement, saving money etc that is a good approach, but in this case, I’m not able to cycle every day. I’m not even able to cycle every week, given the short days in the winter (I live in the north of England!) But I know I can cycle every month, so when I get the chance, I have to make a good go of it – I need to get that 50 miles in the bank.

I keep tabs on it with my Map My Ride profile, so I know if I’m behind on my target.

Effective goal setting can help all areas of your life – not just your fitness goals.

This week will be a success if….

This is one of the whiteboards in my office (one of the best £15 I’ve ever spent, by the way!)….

There are 11 tasks here (10 bullets, but one is 2 blog posts – I’m not that thick). I have a week to do them, so just over a task per day. Hardly any, but they are the important things to do this week – as the title says, this week will be a success if….

The point is I have set a short goal – 1 week. There are plenty of other things I need to do, but they aren’t pressing. These tasks are, meaning my week is a success if I get them done. If I do get them down (which I should, there are only 11!), I have my ‘bonus material’ – tasks that are important, but not pressing.

It’s effective goal setting in practice – I’m not overwhelming myself with work. I will be effective, because this lot will get done.

Next week, there will be more, and the cycle starts again.

Effective Goal Setting In Practice

Take a goal you have set yourself – if you are reading a fitness blog, there is a good chance your goal is weight loss.

Rather than focus on final amount of weight you want to lose, focus instead on eating well for that day. No longer, just the day.

Then do it again, the following day.

And again, for the day after.

I promise you, by the end of the week you will have lost weight and will be a step closer to the goal. Instead of 40lbs to lose, you might only have 37lbs left. By the end of the month, it might be 28lbs to lose. You just have to have the good days often enough.

Be consistent and don’t overwhelm yourself.

I’ve discussed this approach to goal setting with a few of my personal training clients. In some cases, these are people who have set big goals but have become overwhelmed by them, or have suffered by the “I’ll start Monday” syndrome.

I’m hoping this changes it!

By the way, I’ve now started a VIP email list with discounts, offers, tips and news. You can subscribe at on my homepage! Click here to sign up (blue box at the bottom).