A Less SMART Approach to Goal Making
Takeaway Points:
Often we make goals when we are feeling the most ambitious and motivated. These often end up being too strict or unrealistic in timeline, scope, and our current abilities.
We need to take into account that life rarely goes smoothly and make sure that there is enough room for bad days and life changes to still be successful.
Focusing on goals that have personal, intrinsic value and are more process over result based helps working toward your goals fun and achievable.
(This post was contributed by our coach Meg Humphrey.)
The Problem with SMART Goals
If you’ve ever worked in an office in an English speaking country, you’ve probably heard of SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely. The purpose of SMART goals is to help people make goals that can be done as long as you have a plan and work through it. This way of setting goals can be really effective especially in the workplace where there are specific events or deliverables, but does that mean SMART goals should be carried over into our personal lives?
Where this method becomes a problem isn’t the specific or measurable part, but it’s that many people don’t actually know what is achievable, realistic, or timely when it comes to trying to change their bodies. Especially in the age of social media filters, fitness influencers selling guaranteed 30 day results and fat loss teas, and the inappropriate and dangerous use of diabetes medicine for weight loss, it’s easy to believe that we can change our bodies drastically in no time at all, but that’s rarely the case.
Even when it comes to goals that aren’t about loss but instead something like gaining more muscle mass, it can be tricky to figure out what is an achievable and realistic goal. For example, beginners don’t always account for the fact it’s easier to build muscle when you are starting a strength program, but your gains will slow as you continue to improve. Every person has different genetic limitations even if all other factors (age, race, nutritional needs, weight, etc.) are the same. Some intensive muscle building programs require lengthy gym schedules and strict eating plans in order to make and keep gains, and that can be easily disrupted by common factors like getting sick or going on a vacation.
When it comes to making fitness goals, it has to be sustainable if it’s something you want to keep doing or reap the benefits of long term. Maybe you can dedicate a couple months to going to the gym five times a week, but what happens when you have to rearrange your work schedule so now you can’t make it during the open gym hours? What if you find a new hobby that you’re really passionate about and want to spend more time doing? What if you can’t afford your boxing classes anymore? The difficulty level of achieving a goal shouldn’t be so tough that a very realistic life or temporary life change completely derails its possibility of success.
What Kinds of Goals Should We Make?
More than anything, I believe that exercise and fitness goals need to be for you.
What would actually make YOU happy? Not what would allow you to “be socially acceptable” or “avoid criticism about your body from family members,” but what would actually make you feel good. Do you enjoy the camaraderie of a workout class or a community team sport? Does a yoga practice help manage your stress levels? Do you want to be able to keep up with energetic kids, friends, or partners? Is it your deepest desire to crush a watermelon with only the power of your thighs (it’s me, this is my desire)? Pick goals that support the things you enjoy because they will be more intrinsically valuable to you. That way, even when there are hurdles or interruptions, you’ll come back to it because it’s something you actually like doing.
I also understand that not everyone likes or wants or can be very physically active. In those cases, focus on quality of life goals. Do you feel stiff and achy after sitting for a long time? Is it more difficult to keep up with the physicality of chores? Do you want to do what you can to ensure your joints and bones are in good shape as you age because everyone in your family has had knee surgery and you want to put it off for as long as possible? Once you know what area you want to work on, you can come up with ways to achieve that goal that don’t feel like heavy burdens. You’d be surprised at how many easy to learn, low-impact, and quick exercises you can do that really can help you feel better.
Tips for Making Achievable, Less Stressful Goals
It’s okay to be a little vague! Personally, I think “get stronger by adding a strength focused movement practice into my life” can be a very good goal. Sometimes having a too specific goal like “improve my deadlift 1 rep max by 15% in 3 months” is too restricting and causes so much stress that it makes achieving the goal harder. There’s nothing wrong with changing the goal so it says “improve my deadlift 1 rep max in 3 months” (taking away the stress of a certain amount of improvement) or make it even more open ended by taking away the deadline and settle on “improve my deadlift 1 rep max.”
By using more general language, you allow for changes in method and measurement. You could switch between at-home resistance band exercises to powerlifting to kickboxing to HIIT and back to at-home workouts depending on what’s going on with your life. It makes success more broad because meeting your goals can still happen even if you’re not meeting specific numbers. Is it way easier to lift up your dog in their carrier than it was the last time you took them to the vet? Did you come back to an exercise you hadn’t done for a while and saw that you could make it much heavier than your last record? Were you able to move furniture around your house yourself when you needed help before? Congratulations, you’re stronger!
Give yourself ample time and/or pick one thing to focus on at a time! Fellow overachievers out there probably shuddered as they read that, but it’s true. Going too hard too fast doing too many things is a sure fire way to burn out or get injured, both things leading to a long pause in whatever you were trying to accomplish. This isn’t just about fitness, one year I tried to do multiple daily drawing challenges in October when I wasn’t even in the practice of sketching daily, much less creating multiple themed pieces that I felt comfortable sharing publicly. I got through 4 days before I couldn’t keep up and I felt terrible about it even though it was supposed to be FOR FUN! If I had just picked one challenge or if I didn’t hold myself to doing all of them every day, it might have turned out very differently and been a good experience instead of feeling like a failed one.
Don’t add too much detail or extra clauses quantifying success! Instead of something like “join a neighborhood softball league, go to every practice and game, hit a home run” you can do something like “join a neighborhood softball league.” You don’t need the rest (especially when you’re not really sure how realistic those other details are). This is especially true when you’re trying something brand new because it might be really different than you thought. Maybe because of traffic it takes twice as long for you to get over to the fields where you practice and there are some days you won’t be able to make it. Maybe playing softball is way more boring for you than watching baseball on TV. But with the way the goal was worded, you did it! You succeeded! You learned something from it and can move forward from there!
Whatever you end up choosing as your fitness/movement goals, they should bring value to your life. They should be things that feel worthwhile and (more or less) enjoyable as you’re working toward your goal, not just when you achieve them. Leave room for life’s interruptions and surprises and let yourself re-examine or re-write your goals if you find that they’re causing you harm. Goals should be positive tools to help us accomplish things that are important to us, not another burden causing stress.
Adam’s Note
I tend to see a lot of my own clients who approach me with somewhat vague goals - looking like a particular celebrity, moving and feeling better, etc. - and they often feel guilty about this! I like to emphasize that the most important goal is the goal which is meaningful to you, no matter how silly it may seem, because that emotional resonance is really what matters and keeps you going.
Numbers are a great way to quantify progress and make it easier to have concrete proof that you’re moving in the right direction, but only if you track the right things and have the right psychological relationship with those numbers. At the end of the day, I don’t think they make for good goals specifically, because numbers are abstract and meaningless on their own, and most people don’t actually have an emotional connection to a specific number, or have a negative psychological relationship with the numbers that they use to track as a whole.
Focusing on setting process-based goals, rather than outcome-based goals, is also a great way to focus on the stuff that matters, the stuff that you can control (the effort you put in) versus the stuff that you can’t (the benefit you get out).
About Meg Humphrey
Meg Humphrey has a passion for learning about how to be comfortable and feel strong in your body. She aims to make fitness and movement accessible to everyone regardless of experience, body size, or ability.
Over the last 15 years, she has accumulated experience in various exercise modalities (including powerlifting, 5x5, CrossFit, kickboxing, yoga, spin, HIIT, and more), and has used this knowledge to help friends and family members craft their own routines. She leads with kindness, compassion, and patience to show that exercise and fitness can be for anyone in any body.
About Adam Fisher
Adam is an experienced fitness coach and blogger who's been blogging and coaching since 2012, and lifting since 2006. He's written for numerous major health publications, including Personal Trainer Development Center, T-Nation, Bodybuilding.com, Fitocracy, and Juggernaut Training Systems.
During that time he has coached hundreds of individuals of all levels of fitness, including competitive powerlifters and older exercisers regaining the strength to walk up a flight of stairs. His own training revolves around bodybuilding and powerlifting, in which he’s competed.
Adam writes about fitness, health, science, philosophy, personal finance, self-improvement, productivity, the good life, and everything else that interests him. When he's not writing or lifting, he's usually hanging out with his cats or feeding his video game addiction.
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