Unlock the Power of SMART Goal Setting for Fitness to get you the results you want
We all need to set goals that motivate us to exercise and stick to a healthy eating plan but did you know that there’s an art to goal-setting?
Follow this guide to set goals that will give you the purpose and direction you need to make 2025 your best year yet:
Step 1: Set multiple goals
The formula for goal-setting success and a stronger, leaner and more muscular you in 2025 requires setting one big, overarching long-term goal and other smaller, more immediate and easily attainable goals to keep you motivated and progressing towards your overall objective.
Step 2: Confirm it’s the right goal
Setting the wrong goal is a surefire way to kill your drive and motivation. No matter how much willpower you have, chasing a goal that does not resonate with you will doom you to failure.
Take some time to establish your goals for the year (an overarching goal and the smaller goals along the way) and then interrogate them. Ask yourself the following questions and write down your answers:
- Why did you choose that goal?
- Why do you want to achieve this goal?
- How much do you want or need to achieve this goal?
- What will happen if you don’t achieve your goal?
- Am I making this harder than it needs to be?
- How will your efforts to attain this goal fit into your current lifestyle and situation?
- Do you have sufficient time to dedicate to achieving the goal in the timeframe you’ve set out?
This process aims to establish whether your motivators are extrinsic or intrinsic. In general, intrinsic motivators are the most powerful. Many of us fail to succeed because we choose to do things that we don’t like doing to achieve an outcome.
To succeed at anything, you first need to enjoy what you’re doing. When you love the process rather than fixate on the outcome, you create intrinsic motivation that drives your everyday actions.
Step 3: Apply the SMART approach
Once empowered with the right goals, refine your path with the SMART goal-setting approach, which is an acronym for:
- Specific: A broad aim like adding muscle is not a specific goal. Adding 5 kilos in lean mass in 5 months is far more specific. Specific goals provide a clear roadmap, guiding your actions and decisions.
- Measurable: Aiming for a specific goal, like adding 5 kilos of lean muscle, gives you a specific target to work towards and lets you track your progress to that point. Breaking this bigger goal into smaller goals, like adding 1 kilo a month, creates milestones that help get you to the main aim.
- Achievable: Make sure you have the time and resources to commit to your plan and achieve your goal.
- Realistic: Are your expectations realistic? Is it realistic to add a kilo of lean muscle every month? If your goals are unrealistic, it’s unlikely that you’ll achieve them and you’ll end up abandoning them.
- Time-based: While ensuring that your goal has a realistic timeframe is important, it should also have an end date. Working toward open-ended goals with no deadline is a surefire way for your motivation levels to wane and drift over time.
Step 4: Find a structured plan
Following these goal-setting principles also helps to define an actionable plan, because without a plan, goals are merely wishes.
This workable plan should give you the blueprint for how you will achieve your goals.
Walking into a gym without a properly periodised workout plan, or following a diet that doesn’t cater to your genetic individuality, metabolism, and daily energy and macronutrient requirements is an exercise in futility.
You can enlist help from a qualified professional, like a personal trainer or dietitian, for individualised advice and the best approach. You can also download training plans or access fitness or diet apps to get the guidance and structure you need to succeed.
Check out our FREE resources to get you started:
Step 5: Make it a routine
With your plan in hand, the next step is to implement it. The best way to stick to your workout program is to schedule workouts at the same time every day.
Creating routines is essential for sticking to a workout plan and diet because they provide structure, consistency, and predictability. This makes it easier to incorporate consistent habits into your daily life that move you closer to your goal, like working out at the same time every day or doing your diet prep on a Sunday evening for the week ahead.
When you have a set schedule for your workouts and mealtimes, it becomes easier to anticipate and plan for them. This reduces the mental energy needed to decide when and what to do, making it less likely that you’ll skip or procrastinate.
Ultimately, creating routines provides the structure, consistency, and predictability needed to stick to your plan and achieve your goals.