Goal Focused

Setting goals around your health and fitness is a necessary part of being healthy. Your goals dont have to be enormous mountains like running a marathon or completing the Hawaiian Ironman, they can be normal, daily goals like eating a good healthy diet today or making it to the gym tonight.Whatever your focus, its important that you set your goals in a way that is meaningful and useful to you.

Last night it occured to me how different my partner and I are when it comes to goal setting. We have decided to do the 7.5km Memory Walk and Jog event in May to support Alzheimers Australia, and last night was our very first 'training run'. We've just come back from overseas, and needless to say we've both added a little padding so my goal was to test the waters, however my super competitive partner had other ideas. Prior to jumping on the treadmill, trying to rev us both up, I asked what his workout plan was. He was going to run 5K in under 30 minutes. Now for him, thats highly possible. He could do that with ease before we went away, now, with an extra 5kgs and a few weeks on minimal activity, it may be a strain, but it is still possible. He made no allowance for change in fitness, weight gain, etc. To me, he set the bar high. I would be doing the opposite. I decided to lower the bar a little, test the waters and push myself harder if there was room to move. I have bad knees and cant run for prolonged periods anyway, so I decided to do 3 lots of 1K runs with 2 minute walking between. I figured I could push harder, go longer or add incline if it felt to easy. Sure enough, at the end of our workouts, I looked over to him and asked how he did. He wasnt happy. Why? Because it had been harder than he thought, he needed to take a break half way through. He was annoyed at how much fitness he'd lost and how much fat he'd gained. I on the other hand was happy. My run went very well, everything went according to plan, I had achieved my training goal for the day.

So who was right? Is one way of setting goals better than the other? I would say no, because we are different personalities. He is highly competitive. Its in his nature to want to do well all the time, he doesnt do anything half hearted. He missed his goal this time, but that gives him something to aim for next time, and next time he'll hit it, or exceed it, but every time he trains he is getting better. I on the other hand am not particularly competitive. I do things because I want to do them, and I have to say, I do them HOW I want to do them. I will set my goal a little higher for the next training run. I will incrimentally increase it until the day of the fundraiser but it is unlikely it will ever be too much of a stretch. He sees goals as big and far, I see them in small steps. These methods work for us as individuals. If I had set a goal like his, personally, I know I wouldnt have made it, and I would've been upset with myself. I dont have his competitive drive so next time round I would have just lowered the bar and made the next workout easier. I probably would have been telling myself that I had had to make it easier because 'Im obviously not fit enough, I've put on too much weight...etc" Essentially it would not have done my self esteem any good.It wouldnt have been a driving force, it would have stalled me mentally.

What works for you? How do you set your daily, weekly, monthly or yearly goals? Do you have one or two big goals or do you have a series of smaller goals that you work towards? Knowing how you set goals, how you are motivated makes a world of difference when it comes to your health. Think about how you've achieved in your life previously and take note. Use the most effective goal setting strategy for you and you'll be well on your way to great health.