Accountability and Goal Setting

One of the hardest parts about any kind of fitness/diet/wellness program is that it is extremely difficult to make changes on your own. That's why all the "experts" tell you to get a workout buddy, right? Well, what happens when you don't have someone to be your workout buddy?

You put your program out on the internet.

What? You don't do that? Just me? Well, okay then.

I am of the opinion that, the more people I tell a thing, the more likely I am to do a thing. So I am sharing what I need to be doing on as many platforms as I can and I will create an aura of accountability for myself.

Maybe you need an accountability buddy, yourself. Guess what? I'm right here. Just shoot me an email and I'm glad to check in with you and see how you are doing. Before you do that, though, have you set some goals for yourself? Are they SMART goals? Does that question make you want to look at me as though I have lobsters coming out of my ears? That's okay; you're not alone.

For a goal to be SMART, it must be:

S - specific
M - measurable
A - achievable
R - relevant
T - time-sensitive

There are other words that can go with each of the letters, but we'll go with these for the purposes of this exercise, and we'll take them one at a time.

So, you want a goal to be specific. Let's start with "I want to lose weight." That is a pretty specific goal, but it's not yet a SMART goal.

Taking our weight loss example, you've decided to lose weight. Next, how much weight do you want to lose? It needs to be measurable. This is pretty easy for weight loss, but  you'll need to think of your outcome-based assessment for the successful completion of your goal if your goal is a little more abstract.

It's all well and good to say "I want to lose 75 pounds." That is specific and measurable. But is it achievable? Well, sure, but when you have a lot of weight to lose, it's probably a good idea to break that into, pardon the pun, bite-sized pieces. Maybe "I want to lose 10% of my excess weight" or even 5%. That's maybe more achievable.

Okay, we're getting somewhere. Next, your goal needs to be relevant. This means that the goal really needs to mean something to you. You have to be doing the thing for YOU, not someone else. Don't think that deciding to lose weight because you think it will keep your spouse happy will keep your eye on the prize.

Finally, here's where we put that last piece of the puzzle into place. A SMART goal needs to be time sensitive. Napolean Hill is often quoted as saying "A goal is a dream with a deadline." So slap a deadline on your dream and make it a goal.

So, in our example, a SMART goal would be something like "My goal is to lose 5% of my excess body weight by the end of the year."

And you know what? I'm going to claim that as my goal.

And by putting it out here, on the interwebz, I'm making myself accountable for that goal. There are other goals I'll be making myself accountable for over the coming months. Stay tuned.