Goal Month: Dumb Goals

I did my due diligence yesterday and discussed SMART goals.  They work great for some people, but here’s the truth:  I don’t love them.

For one thing, when it comes to fitness goals, those of us who are not personal trainers don’t have any idea what a reasonable or achievable goal might look like.  How long does it take to show cardio improvement?  Strength improvement?  How fast can I change my body fat percentage?  My weight?

 

For another thing, SMART goals are often about ultimate outcome.  Unless we construct them carefully, we think we have “failed” if we don’t hit the exact target we aimed for.  If, say, the goal was to lift one agabaga (a unit I just made up) and we only manage to life half an agabaga, we might think we failed rather than notice that before we started we couldn’t even say agabaga much less lift a tenth of one.  We made progress.  We have stuff to celebrate.

 

Even if we hit our SMART target, then what?  SMART goals are by nature finite.  Life is long and maybe we need healthy habits for the whole length of it rather than ticking a box for a month.

 

All that said, SMART goals work really well for some people.  If you like them, use them!

 

But let me suggest that there is another tool we can use.  Let me introduce you to the dumb goal.

 

A dumb goal is something that is more than we are doing now, but still really easy to achieve.  So someone just breaking up with the couch might choose a five minute walk every day for a week.  Five minutes!  We spend more time getting dressed than that.  We can do that.  And that’s the point.  After a week or so, we have the beginnings of a habit and we can build on that.  After a month, we’re maybe walking a half hour a day and thinking that maybe we could add a pushup or two to the routine.

 

The upside of dumb goals is that we’re never overtaxing ourselves.  The downside is that we have to keep paying attention and adding a little bit more.  Dumb goals are about building habits and about sustainability.  They’re for life, not just to look good at that reunion that’s coming up.

 

Try it.