SMART Goals Revisited | The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans LLC

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I know I’ve written about SMART goals here before.  This is an area I feel passionately about and as we look at the last days of 2014 and ahead to 2015, I feel it’s important to look at SMART goals again.

SMART Goals Revisited

To review, when you set goals for yourself, you must look at these 5 elements in order to increase your chances at being successful.

Your goals must be:

Specific – decide exactly what it is you want to accomplish, such as eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a week or working out for a minimum of 30 minutes 4 times per week.

Measurable – assign a number to your goal that you can track.  Write it down and come up with a system for monitoring your progress.  Check marks on a calendar may be best or maybe use of an online tracker like My Fitness Pal would work for you.  Know what your starting point is too so you have a baseline of where you began.

Achievable – make your goal something that you can reach.  This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t step outside your comfort zone, because you absolutely should, but step within reason.  For me, saying I will run 7 days a week is not achievable.  I might last 2 weeks until I break or burnout.  Saying I will run at least 10 miles a week is a more achievable goal.

Realistic – again, your goal must be something you have the potential to complete.  Setting a goal to lose 50 pounds in the next 4 weeks is probably not realistic.  Even reality TV contestants can’t do that (and if they do, I’m not convinced it’s been done in the healthiest way).  Setting a goal to lose 1-2 pounds per week?  PERFECT and HEALTHY. The “R” can also stand for “Relevant” which means the goal should mean something to you.  If you don’t take ownership of the goal, you are less likely to see the work through to achieve it. Just because your friend sets a goal to run a half marathon doesn’t mean you should too, unless that’s really what you want to do.

Time-Bound – give yourself a target date so begin and a deadline.  If you work better in smaller chunks by all means break the goal down.

There you have it – a little guideline to help you in setting your 2015 SMART goals.  Did you set any SMART goals for 2014?  How did you do?  What are your plans for 2015?  We have so many awesome ideas in the works here at Shrinking Jeans – from a new Diet Bet to our fitness calendars to challenges – so stay tuned!

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