Goal Setting for Success

Exercise plateau and lack of motivation are two factors which really limit us reaching our potential. Goal setting is a crucial part of gaining success, you must have a clear goal in mind every time you step into the gym and a long term vision of what you want to achieve.

Having  smaller short term goals and an overall long term goal will help to keep you motivated to keep working hard.

Goal setting for success should of course include what you want to achieve. But you must dig deeper and break the goal down into more detail.

Ask yourself what specifically do you want to  gain from exercise and nutrition whether its sports performance, fat loss, strength gains or increased energy levels you must write down detailed goals in which will help you achieve  success. For example if you want to strip body fat…

• Decrease body fat percentage by 10 per cent
• To lose 4 inches from waist
• Drop 2 jean sizes

Once you have determined specific goals you now must give yourself a time frame in which you want to complete it in. This again will keep you more driven and achieving your training goals will become easier with a time line in place. So for example your goals would now look like this…

• Decrease body fat percentage by 10 percent cent by June 10^th for my holiday
• To lose 4 inches from waist by March for wedding
• Drop 2 jean sizes by February for my birthday.

Setting out a reward for when you accomplish your goals is another great way to keep you focused and driven to succeed. This reward should be something positive and not be anything related to bad eating habits or something counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve. A good idea is to set a reward that encourages you to keep going and stay healthy like a beach holiday or a nice piece of clothing. Your goals may look a bit like this now..

• Decrease body fat percentage by 10 percent by June for my holiday and buy a few nice new outfits for it.
• To lose 4 inches from waist by march for the wedding to buy a certain dress
• Drop 2 jean sizes by February for my birthday to fit into some new skinny jeans

Set your goals for success and achieve them using a well structured framework which will keep you focus and driven when things get tough.