The classic anatomy of a good goal is the SMART goal. That is, a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Let’s get into the details, with a hypothetical scenario.
Let’s say I wake up one morning and feel sluggish, flabby, and weak. I am nearly out of breath just rolling out of bed. My donut and coffee breakfast doesn’t make me feel better and the day does not improve as it goes along. I decide I don’t want to feel like this anymore, so I conclude that I want to get in shape. Ta-da! A goal!
Or maybe not.
What does it mean to be in shape? To some of us, it might mean being able to move our own furniture or open our own jars. Others might have a clothing size in mind. Still others might want to time-travel back to our glory days when we ran a marathon or triumphed on the football field or skied for a week with no aches and pains. My hypothetical self up above needs to get specific about what I want.
Pitfall alert: my hypothetical self could come up with about 27 different specific things. I am going to focus on one for the purpose of illustration and I will strongly suggest that in real life we don’t choose more than three goals at a time.
Pretend Janet decides that what I want is improved cardio fitness, so that not only can I get out of bed, I can ride my bike and play pickleball and garden without feeling like I’m going to die. That’s a specific kind of in shape, so I’m making progress toward having a goal.
But how will Pretend Janet know if I have achieved this? I will need to measure. For cardio fitness, I have multiple options for what to measure. I could track my HRV using my Wristy Overlord (aka Apple Watch) and see if the number trends up over time. I could track my time, distance, and difficulty settings on the cardio machines at the gym to see how they change. I could track my perceived exertion in my daily workouts. I could do a step test as a baseline and then repeat it every month or so to see if things have changed. The best measurement to use will vary by human, but Pretend Janet wisely wants to keep things simple. I wear my Wristy Overlord anyway; I will track my HRV.
But is this goal achievable? This is where Pretend Janet has to think about strategy and tactics. In order to improve my cardio fitness, I have to do cardio workouts. That means I need to find a time and place to do them. I need to plan. I need to show up for my workouts. And I need to persist. After thinking things over, Pretend Janet concludes that there is time for a half hour cardio workout five days a week before work. I plan to roll out of bed, get on my workout clothes, and get it done. I even plan for a little wiggle room: if I miss a day, I can do a Saturday workout instead.
Is my goal realistic? Well, if Pretend Janet routinely has trouble getting up in time to throw on clothes and get to work on time, maybe not. That version of me might do better scheduling an after-work workout. If Pretend Janet feels excited about throwing on cute workout clothes and getting to the gym and getting done before anybody else at home is even up, this could be perfect. Optimism is essential to change, but Pretend Janet needs to be honest about who she really is to make this work.
The timely part of my goal is where I put a little healthy pressure on. I want to show improvement in a month. That’s long enough for some new habits to be fairly formed and short enough that I have to get moving right away.
So at the end, my SMART goal looks like this: I want to improve my cardio fitness as measured by improvements in my HRV over the next month. I will do this by completing a 30-minute cardio workout five days a week before work.
That’s a lot more workable than “get in shape.”
