Lets talk about some goals! Everyone that belongs to CrossFit St. Charles trains here for different reasons. Some want to live healthier & happier, some want to be competitors, some want to look better naked, all great things. Deep down we all have a list of things we want to accomplish, to strive towards something greater!
Lets talk about goals and how you should go about setting and approaching them. When setting goals, we want to dissect the goal in order to make it a SMART goal.
A SMART goal is:
Specfic: The first term stresses the need for a specific goal over and against a more general one. We want it clear and to the point. “I want to read 1 new book a month” is far more powerful than “I want to read more.”
Measurable: The second term stresses the need for concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of the goal. The thought behind this is that if a goal is not measurable, it is not possible to know if I am making progress toward attaining my goal. For example our goal may be to eat more “clean” or follow a Paleo diet more strictly. How are we going to do this? Lets start with recording what we eat in a food journal on a daily basis. This way we can see where we stand at the end of each day.
Attainable: The third term stresses the importance of goals that are realistic and attainable. I’d love to have a 400-pound bench press by the end of next year but is it going to happen given my current 1RM right now? Maybe if I stuck a needle in my butt, but that’s not going to happen. We need to make sure that our goals are not too far out of reach, I like to dream big but a more realistic goal would be achieve a bench press of 330 pounds.
Relevant: The goal has to have value and be important to you. I once had a goal of eating 6 saltine crackers in less than minute without drinking anything. It was Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Time-bound, but it was pretty silly. Pick a goal that lights a fire under your ass, not one that gets cracker crumbs all over the place.
Time-bound: This one is really important. We need to give our goal a due date. A commitment to a deadline will always make you more focused on the task at hand. “I will loose 10 pounds by December 1st” By giving yourself a specific date, you will take steps towards achieving your goal and possibly even achieve it before then!
You will notice a new board above the weights in the gym, it’s the new goal board! We would like you guys to think of 1-2 goals that follow the SMART protocol and to write it up on the board. You then develop a game plan and be relentless in your pursuit of that goal. Stay with it and stay positive, and be sure to make it known once you’ve achieved it! Hope this helps you all with setting your goals. If you have any questions, be sure to ask a coach! We love to help.
