Are your goals SMART?

Have you ever seen something on social media saying someone broke a record, became the greatest sports player, or achieved something incredible? I’d like to assume we all have, and my assumption is made based on the fact that as humans becoming incredible is something we all would like to be. Thats why I watched my Saturday morning cartoons, because an orphan could become Batman!

I’ve read about amazing runners like Scott Jurek who is a legend in the running world. He currently holds the United States all-surface record in the 24 Hour Run with 165.7 miles which amounts to about 6.5 marathons in one 24 hour period.

I’ve read about amazing leaders who inspired their subordinates to become the best Soldiers, workers, and students of all time. Recently I discovered a book called Extreme Ownership by former Navy Seal Commander Jocko Willink and Leif Babin (You can purchase a copy through our Amazon Affiliate Store here). I highly encouraged my subordinates to pick it up and read it as I was confident they would learn something intrinsically foundational about leadership: “Own It!” I encourage you to pick up this book and apply the principles to your life as a parent, student, professional and especially if you are in the Military.

What makes people become incredible, amazing, something bigger than themselves? Is it the DNA set up they have inherited? Is it something that can be purchased? Is there an app for that??

Truth is, some of it is a product of genetics, some is a product of nurturing, but ultimately it is a product of your mind. You can become something great. You can become the most productive worker in your section. You can become the next Soldier of the Year. You can become a straight A student and earn that scholarship. You can get in shape and totally change your life in as little as a year. So why not you?

The answer is because we are not great at setting goals. Nothing happens until you decide on a goal. I like to go outside to my backyard and practice archery. Unless I pick a specific target I can shoot a million arrows and never improve. Once I decided on a target to shoot at I can see if I’m getting close to center mass or if I’m missing the mark. My failures and missed shots are helping me in becoming a better huntsman. My broken arrows and lost field tips are all working towards my improvement.

Once you have a goal or objective you then study the best way in which to get there. Set up a plan with easily identifiable mile-markers and way points. These way points will give you an indication of your progress or lack thereof and will help you get back on track.

Allow me to share with you some of the things about making goals. The best resource I found on the internet about goal setting comes from Project Smart (https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.php)  written by Duncan Haughty. I first heard of this information in a class I took in 2014 but the information was not cited at that time. Set your goals using the S.M.A.R.T format.

S – specific, significant, stretching

M – measurable, meaningful, motivational

A – agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented

R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented

T – time-based, time-bound, timely, tangible, trackable

I used to teach this goal writing format to my young trainees. I was a Drill Sergeant and used to have classes full of civilians transitioning to Soldiers. In every class I had those who were already physically fit and those who never ran or lifted any weights. My job was to train and teach them so they could become fully trained initial entry Soldiers and our timeline was only 19 weeks.

I began to teach every trainee to write a physical fitness goal that was very specific, such as “I will run a 13:00 minute 2 miles”. Then we would make sure it was measurable. The easiest way to measure progress is for me to make them run the 2 mile run event periodically over the 19 weeks of training. The next step was to make the goal agreed upon by the trainee and myself. I would have them post this goal on a 3X5 card on the inside door of their wall lockers. If I saw a trainee taking it easy on a run day I would simply remind them of our agreed goal.

Once they had written their goals we read over and I would ensure it was realistic. We used to make the trainees take a 1 mile run so we could assess them and see where their starting point was. For obvious reasons a 13:00 minute 2 mile run is not a goal achievable by all trainees. Lastly I would give them the date of their last 2 mile run event assessment and with that they had a timeline.

I found that writing goals in this format greatly improved the changes of achieving it. Let’s be honest even if the person failed to meet their 13:00 minute 2 mile run goal, they found themselves in much better shape then if they simply started with: “I will run more this year”. Its like going outside and shooting arrows into the sky.

I understand you won’t have a drill sergeant motivating you everyday along the way. But I encourage you to seek others and share your goals with them. Accountability is a great way to stay focused and work on achieving your goals.

We at SophiaJamesEducation (SJE) will start our fitness challenge. Every week we will post a challenge that you can follow and tailor to your needs and wants. These challenges are designed for those who are not physically active. We will gladly set up more difficult challenges if you are interested in it. Just let me know. You can keep track and post your results, pictures, comments and suggestions. Our goal is for you to achieve more with your life.

This week’s fitness challenge is to run 3 times this week for 10 minutes each time. You should start with some light stretching, then jog for 10 minutes and take another 2 minutes to walk it off and cool down. Make sure to stretch after the run and have water easily available. You can check out some stretches here.

You may use your phone to track the workout, or a GPS watch, or fitness wristband. Post your pictures, times, pace, distance, or just a photo of yourself out there. The challenge starts Monday September 12 and ends Sunday September 17 at midnight. Keep us posted. Have fun. Most of all achieve more for yourself!

We are working on creating SJE fitness challenge stickers for those who complete the monthly challenges. Please make your suggestions on how we can motivate you towards your goals.

Together we achieve more,

Wes.

Click here for a free PDF tracker: sje-challenge-1

Print you tracker, as you fill it tag us #SophiaJamesEducation
Make sure you add us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: SophiaJamesEDU

Disclaimer: We did not receive anything to write this review. These thoughts are our own. If you purchase a copy of the book through our amazon affiliate link we will receive a small percentage from Amazon for linking them to you. You can read our full disclosure here.