But that doesn’t mean SMART goals are useless.
Their usefulness in fitness or self-improvement is pretty limited.
In other words, youve turned it into a pass-fail test.
The goal has to be Attainable, remember?
That’s why you need another bang out of goal, which I’ll call adream goal.
A dream goal is what youreallywant.
It’s the thing that inspires you, whether or not it’s attainable.
We’re not going to shoehorn that into the SMART goal framework.
Your process goals are things that will keep you on the path toward that mountain.
Putting one foot in front of the other.
A standard holds us accountable.
I cant emphasize how important it is that we allow ourselves to dream big.
Take one minute off my 5K race time this year is attainable, but why limit yourself to that?
The path up that mountain might be a long one, but its not going to walk itself.
How to write SMART goals to support your Dream Goals
So, lets start charting that path.
So focus on whats right in front of you and what you’re free to control.
Lets say youre a runner, and you want to be a faster runner.
spin up the Big Local 5K in my city this March.
See how each of these five is a SMART goal?
They are allSpecificenough that you know exactly what to do to fulfill those goals.
They areMeasurable: You hit the miles, or you check off the number of workouts programmed.
On the day of the time trial and the race, you either show up or you don’t.
And you get a finish time for each, to more precisely measure your progress.
They areRelevant: They all set you on the path toward being a faster runner at the 5K distance.
These goals define your process, and then you get to reassess.
After the Big Local 5K, do you want to do more specific 5K training to get faster?
