Personal Goal Setting - making them SMART

After hitting a major health and fitness goal this week, I find myself in need of establishing a new one.  Since we are in the process of goal setting for 2012 at work, I wanted to take a more business minded, analytical approach to my personal goal setting and thought I would share some thoughts here.  As I started writing this blog, however, I realized there was a lot more information related to this topic than most readers would want to wade through so I've abbreviated this version (believe it or not) to focus on making goals SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time bound (http://www.oma.ku.edu/soar/smartgoals.pdf).  That doesn't mean that factors such as horizontal and vertical alignment, process vs. results orientation, and others aren't important, just too long winded to go into details for this blog. 

• Specific - goals should be worded in such a way that it is clear to anyone what is to be achieved and whether there is success or not.  General  statements like "I want to get healthy" or "My goal is physical fitness"  are too ambiguous establish results.  Even something a little more specific, like "I want to lose weight", allows for a measurement of success, it's not clear on the degree of success.  I need something along the lines of "I will lose 10 lbs by Christmas" or "I will exercise a total of 4 hours a week."  Not only are these goals specific, but they are also:
• Measurable - this attribute is not only critical in determining if a goal is achieved but in providing a means for monitoring (and celebrating) progress along the way.  Because weight is easily measurable, it has become the proxy for many regarding health.  Unfortunately, weight is only one factor in the overall health of an individual and not always the best.  BMI or body fat % might be better indicators and tools like online calculators or scales with BIA (http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightloss/a/bodyfat_2.htm) are relatively easy and inexpensive to find.  If the goal is process oriented, a log of activities or diet would be necessary with periodic reviews for compliance with the goal.
• Attainable - this is where I need to be really honest with myself.  Sometimes the media provides unrealistic expectations regarding possible weight loss (Biggest Loser) or with fitness goals (Insanity).  We all want the perfect body but need to take things like age, injuries, time commitments, etc.  into consideration.  On the flip side, it's important to push oneself and set goals that pose a challenge.  I'm struggling with this right now because I'd like to get to a "healthy" BMI but it means achieving a weight that I haven't seen since I was 17 years of age.  Even at my lowest weight as a healthy adult, my BMI was firmly in the "overweight" category.  I'm questioning whether that goal is attainable and may be looking more toward a body fat % goal, but not having tracked that previously, I'm not sure of the possible results.  I could also go with a realistic process goal of fitness activities and diet.   
• Relevant - This is where upward vertical alignment of goals figures in; the goal must matter as part of the big picture.  It has to contribute to health, happiness, etc.  Just like corporations, people can do their own "strategic planning" to determine their personal mission, values, and overall life goals.  If you haven't done that, I highly recommend it to help gain clarity.  Since health and wellness are high on my list, any goal will likely be relevant but they also needs to fit into the other priorities of goals in life and contribute to what I consider to be "fitness".  Health related goals such as cholesterol below 180, a resting heart rate of 65, or washboard abs may be important to some but they don't really mean that much to me.   My commitment to health and wellness is to enjoy life without physical limitations.  To modify a statement my dad once told me about work, "Be fit to live, don't live to be fit."   I want to make sure I still have time to do all the other things I enjoy in life.
• Time Bound - Goals are not open ended; like projects, start and stop points are important so that success can be determined.  Time frames will also be linked to both specificity and attainability.  Another important consideration is whether your goal is long, medium, or short range.  I like the idea of setting long term, results oriented goals with short or medium range process oriented goals to support it (downward vertical alignment). 

After reviewing these guidelines, I've decided to establish the following goals (and these have changed as I've written the blog):

• Reduce my body fat % from 25% to 20% (per the BIA method on my Tanita scale) by March 31, 2012.
• Engage in cardio exercises 5 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes per day through 3/31/12
• Follow current strength training program 3 times a week through 11/30/11 (will reevaluate program at that time)
• Consume a balanced diet that is an average of 1000 kcal below my daily calorie burn through 12/31/11 (will reevaluate kcal differential at that time based on BMI and body fat %)

These goals meet the  SMART criteria with only a question mark on whether I can attain the BF% goal within the time frame.   I think it is achievable based on my limited experience tracking BF% via BIA but I know that it will challenge me.   I may need to escalate my fitness training to achieve it which is why I kept the weight training goal short range.  I also feel that the BF% is relevant as a measure of progress toward overall fitness and a better one than either weight or BMI.  I also went with some process oriented goals to support long term results and to maintain the healthy habits I've established over the past few months. 

We'll check back later on success.  Let me know what you think in comments below.