It’s that time of year when everyone takes a step back and sets new goals or dreams for the year. However, saying this 92% of people will end up in exactly the same place as they were last year. It’s clear if you want to achieve your health and fitness goals, you need a powerful formula. In this article we’ll help show you the missing link with people’s goals and get organized.
What exactly are your fitness goals? What do you want this next year to look like?
Any health and fitness effort starts with these questions and it seems easy to answer. People can pretty easily rattle off how much weight they want to lose, or how much they want to be able to deadlift etc
This is how most people set their fitness goals but are often missing this next vital step. Proper goal setting is a plan for getting things done. How do we turn goal setting into a plan to get things done so that you don’t get lost, confused and overwhelmed?
Turn Outcome goals into Behaviour goals!!
Most people start out with the outcomes they want for example:
- I want to lose 10kg
- I want to be stronger
- I want to eat better etc
Outcome goals describe how we want things to be at the end of the process. There is nothing wrong with this and is often a good place to start but it’s what comes next which gives you the focus to achieve your vision.
You can’t control outcomes but you can control what you do. That’s why behaviour goals are so important as they focus on things, we do have control over. Here are some examples:
| Outcome | Behaviour |
| Lose 10 kgs | Eat till satisfied instead of stuffed at each meal |
| Deadlift more weight | Deadlift 3 times a week at various intensities |
| I want to eat better | Eat 2 fist sized portions of vegetables at every meal |
So how can you set behaviour goals?
- Write down one outcome you want.
- For your outcome, write down a behaviour or two you can do today that’ll help build those skills you need to achieve the outcome you want. Eg pack your gym bag for tomorrow morning or eat fruit for dessert, instead of sweets at least three times a week.
- Focus on doing that behaviour for the next two weeks before adding in the next behaviour
So, what’s your goal and more importantly what’s your action plan to get there?
Clarity leads to direction. Having clarity leads to achieving your goals. Want to be able to run? What’s the next step to make this happen (hint-start walking). Your choices will fall into place if you have a specific direction and simple specific behaviours to move towards your goals. Don’t wish to be fit this year choose your goal, be specific and commit.
