Greek philosopher Aristotle once stated that 'Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.'
There is no question that as human beings, we are working towards our potential when we are focused on meeting a goal. Setting goals is an important part of all of our lives. We set all types of personal and professional goals for ourselves every day, and that's a good thing.
Some time ago, Grammy award winning singer, musician, and song writer Alicia Keys had a hit song called, 'Unbreakable' where she says:
'Cause he ain't no different from you
And she ain't no different from me
So we got to live our dreams
Like the people on T.V.
We gotta stay tuned
'Cause there's more to see (Unbreakable)
Through the technical difficulties (Unbreakable)
We might have to take a break
But ya'll know we'll be back next week
I'm singing this love is unbreakable
Oh yeah, yeah?
Our goals should do something similar for us: provide us with long term vision and short term motivation that makes us 'unstoppable.' With clearly defined goals, we are able to actually measure and take pride in the achievements that we make throughout our lives. Furthermore, by setting goals and meeting them, we raise our self-confidence and our willingness to continue improving ourselves by setting even higher goals.
Other notable benefits of goal setting:
Setting goals is not always easy, particularly fitness goals. The biggest problem is that we define those goals too broadly. 'What do you mean too broadly'? you may ask. Well, we might set our goals to be something like, 'I want to loose 20 pounds' or 'I want to be healthier'. These are good goals, but if we want to increase our chances of achieving them we need to get more specific and map out a detailed plan; and then take action towards accomplishing those things in our plan.
For example, it may be more effective to say, 'I will loose 20 pounds in 6 months' or 'I want to be healthier by decreasing my body fat by X percentage and lowering my cholesterol level to Y'. Setting realistic and precise goals increases our chances of achieving them.
Once we have an idea as to the 'big picture' goal, as illustrated in the above example, we need to then break that bigger goal into smaller, specific target goals. For example, setting a goal to workout three times a week for 20 minutes is a smaller, targeted goal.
We often tend to view goals as an end result instead of an intricate part of our ongoing fitness plan. By setting a smaller goal of attending the gym regularly, we are making that weight loss goal a part of our everyday fitness program. Furthermore, if we break that larger goal down into achievable smaller goals strategically placed within our fitness plan, we do two things.
First, we have a goal that is achievable almost immediately, and that is exactly the kind of kick start that many of us often need in the beginning of a new fitness routine. Secondly, as we achieve these small goals, our confidence level will continue to soar and we will find ourselves motivated and energized to continue.
The successful achievement of these smaller goals serves as our incentive to set up and achieve the next goal on our way to mastering the 'big one'. Before you know it, you will have achieved not only all of those smaller goals, but your end result.
After setting your goals, do not be surprised if you see an increase in your energy level as you begin to live your life with renewed purpose and passion that often comes with having meaningful goals. You will feel more confident and motivated as you take control of your life and move in the direction you have defined for yourself. You can truly be unstoppable in your quest for a healthier you.
Robert Selders, Jr., MS, CSCS, Principle Consultant of 3Q Fitness Consultants (Garland, Texas), is a Certified Fitness Trainer and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He can be reached at
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