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People rarely achieve amazing things by accident. Their best work often comes from setting their sights on something… often beyond their current capabilities and putting the work in over time in order to achieve it.

This is of course what we call setting goals.

Why should we set goals?

We have all set goals. Pretty much anyone who has achieved big things has set the goal of achieving it first. Without them, not only would we potentially not achieve anything but setting the goal is what makes it all worthwhile!

You would never know you have arrived at the destination if you are unsure of what the end-point is.

However just because you set the goal doesn’t mean that you will achieve it.

Spoiler alert - later on in this article I’m going to say that it’s not really all about the end destination and that the real goal is to enjoy the journey! Once you reach one destination, you will most likely already have another destination in mind that you must hurry off to… so the real joy is finding fulfilment in pursuit of the goal rather than just when we achieve it. However we must know what we are trying to pursue in the first place if we are to enjoy the journey toward it.

Therefore, goals are really important for adding meaning  to our life and lighting the fire inside us… without them, we are just meandering through life never fully experiencing the full spectrum of emotions and experiences that go along with it.

Who Should Set Goals?

Who should set goals? EVERYONE. It’s about having intent over things that matter to us.

You don’t need to have goals in every area of your life… but you absolutely should have goals in the area(s) that matter to you.

The only person who shouldn’t be setting goals is someone who’s focusing on achievement has led them to no longer get any enjoyment out of the goals they set and achieve… However, this person still needs the goal of ‘switching to a more enjoyment-based lifestyle and experience’, so I guess everyone does need goals after all?!

It is important to note as well that sometimes the goal may be to simply ‘maintain’, or make sure that you don’t ‘slide too far backwards’, whilst you focus on a different area of your life… but again that’s still having a goal!

So to summarise: everyone should have goals in areas that matter to them!

 

What Type Of Goals Should I Set?

In terms of health and fitness, there tend to be three areas that people set goals:

Look vs. Feel vs. Perform

Too many people only focus on the ‘LOOK’ side of things… However, setting goals based on your physical appearance has many downsides - it’s negatively positioned - i.e. it’s focusing on your being ‘less bad’, rather than ‘more good’, it’s too subjective (You might think you’ve got a belly, whereas I might think you’ve got a flat stomach?!)... this means it is very hard to measure accurately… and most importantly no one actually cares. The reality is that we all care about how we look but other people don’t really base your worth on your physical appearance.

We would always encourage people to have ‘Look’ based goals in the background but we suggest that a better way would be to focus on the ‘Performance’ side of things, as these are often be easier to measure progress along the way, they often produce far greater feelings of accomplishment, they build self-esteem and… they often result in the positive by-product of you ‘looking’ better anyway!

So whilst Look and Feel goals are great… Performance based goals are often the best!!

Once you’ve chosen your Performance based goal however, people will often make the mistake of setting the ‘outcome’ they would like to pursue… and then not really doing much else. Maybe they will rely on some motivation or ‘discipline’ to get them started, however setting outcome based goals alone won’t keep us going long term. They are simply the first step in the goal setting process…

What we actually want to do, fairly quickly, is make the shift from ‘outcome’ based goals over to more process based goals.

An example of an outcome based goal is “I want to lose 5 lbs”, “I want to reduce my blood pressure to a healthy range” or “I want to run a 5km”.

Whilst these are brilliant at setting the direction…and they can be motivating to say out loud, they don’t actually help us get started, nor do they help us stay on track, nor actually achieve the goal in any way

The solution therefore is switching to process focused goals… which are simply the actions/habits/necessary steps that you must do in order to achieve the outcomes.

I.e.

“I want to lose 5 lbs”, becomes a collection of process based inputs such as:

• I will go to the gym and do 3x 60 minute workouts each week
• I will include a source of protein with each of my lunches and dinners
• I will drink 2L of water each day
• I will get 12,000 steps each day

Or “I want to reduce my blood pressure to a healthy range” becomes:

• I will go for a 30 minute walk every lunchtime
• I will include a portion of fruit/vegetables with every meal
• I will go to bed for 10pm, lights off by 10:30 Mon-Thurs
• I will only drink alcohol 2 nights per week

Or “I want to run a 5km” becomes:

• I will strength train 3x per week
• I will run 2x per week, as per my couch to 5k plan
• I will prepare and take my lunch to work Mon-Thurs
• I will include my knee rehab exercises as part of my warm up before my runs

… obviously the actions that you set are always going to be based on your outcome based goals, your start point and your timeframe.

Now of course it’s never that simple, so the next step would be to actively look at the obstacles that will stop us from completing our process-based inputs… and then we come up with solutions to these in case of emergency, i.e. what is going to get in the way of your sticking to the actions set.

 

When Should I Set/Connect With My Goals?

I think people are often quite good at setting New Years resolutions and of course the start of a calendar year makes everything nice and tidy but the reality is that really doesn’t matter when you set goals, only that you do set them!

That being said, I feel that having an overview for a 12 month period works well for most people, then breaking this year down and prioritising one (ideally performance-based) goal per quarter (i.e. every 12-13 weeks, alongside the FACTR training programmes)

However, the most important thing I wanted to talk about in the ‘WHEN’ part of this article is when and how frequently people should reconnect with their goals.

I would highly recommend that people build in some kind of regular practice where they view and connect with their goals - both the big picture outcome based goals, as well as the smaller input-based process goals that they must do on a frequent basis. This is because setting the goal is the easy bit… but staying focused, on track and not veering off toward something else is the tough bit… however this is what makes achieving the goals so rewarding too!!

This regular practice can be some kind of monthly review with yourself, a ‘weekly check in’ or for some people having something visible every day to help them connect with the bigger picture but also focus the mind on what to do in order to actually achieve these goals, in terms of their weekly actions/habits/inputs.

 

How to goal SET and goal GET

1. Set out your long term aims for how you want to look, feel and perform (i.e. your big-picture Outcome Based goals)
   
   
2. Deep dive with these goals and connect with them on a deep level… ask yourself WHY these are really important to you and why you must achieve them?
   
   
3. Now shift your focus to performance goals - Rather than solely focusing on ‘weighing less’... Can you focus on ‘becoming more’? What amazing things do you want to do that you never thought possible?
   
   
4. In order to achieve these performance based ‘outcome’ goals, what are the necessary ‘process’ based actions/habits/targets needed to achieve the above.
   
   
5. Look ahead to what obstacles may prevent you from achieving your goal.
   
   
6. Look to build these inputs into your routines and rituals for long term success.
   
   
7. Have some kind of regular practice where you connect with your outcome based goals as well as your input-based actions to keep you on track.