Goals are dreams with deadlines. I’m not sure where I first heard that expression, but I love it. If you don’t set that end date, what are you working towards?
If you follow my personal blog, you know that in just a few days, I’m going to step up to the starting line of my second full marathon. I’ve thought a lot about goals over the past 4 months (longer actually, because I set a very specific goal for myself back in February regarding running another full).
I have to write goals for my students in my day job and we are taught to write “SMART” goals. I think this bodes well for fitness goals, too. I have my marathon SMART goal posted on my refrigerator, and while I’m not going to share the specifics here, I do want to talk about the 5 elements.
Specific – in just a few short words, you should be able to detail your goal. “I will complete the Detroit Marathon…”
Measurable – the goal must be quantifiable in some way. This can be a time or pace if you are running. It could be to lift a certain weight.
Attainable – this is the one that I have gone back and forth with in regards to the Detroit Marathon. You want your goal to be something that scares you and makes you work, but also something that is physically possible. For me, that is not running a Boston Qualifying time. For one, I don’t have the physical ability to do that right now, and also, I really don’t want to work that hard. But, setting a goal to PR if you are willing to put in the time and effort to do so is very attainable.
Relevant – the goal has to mean something to you or what’s the point of doing it? Seriously, don’t set a goal to PR a marathon by some crazy margin if you really don’t give a hoot. You’ll just set yourself up for failure.
Time Bound – this goes to that very first sentence in the post – Dreams are goals with deadlines. I made a plan, wrote it out in a really nice spreadsheet, and tweaked it when I needed to. Now, my deadline is coming up on October 19th and I’m ready. I’ve put in the work and I’m ready to cash the check 🙂
What SMART goal did you set for yourself this year?
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