How to set yourself realistic goals!

A lot of us have a goal, a target, the big picture, the dream. But the key is to find out how to set yourself realistic goals. You want to know what you are working towards to provide you with the motivation to keep going. This goal doesn’t need to be extreme. It could be as simple as having a better relationship with exercise in 3 months than you do now!

Identify the goal

This is sometimes where people can go wrong. There is potential to be over optimistic with what you can achieve in a short amount of time. Remember we want to set ourselves up to succeed not fail! Good things take time, and it’s essential to set strong foundations that will create an all-round long term, healthy lifestyle. Put a time frame on it and make sure it’s something that you really want.

Choosing small steps to build to our goal

Once we have identified that end goal, we can identify the small steps that will lead to achieving it. These things need to be subtle alterations to your current lifestyle. This means rather than deciding to hit the gym 6 times a week when previously you only went once. Maybe start by increasing to 2 times then 3 and continue going 2-3 times until it feels like a normal part of your life. As trainers we often get asked how we find the motivation to go to the gym 5 times a week. For me, it has become a normal part of my life. I don’t force myself to go, it is simply a normal part of my weekly routine, also I love it so that helps!

Take Action Now

Think to yourself now, what small changes can I make that won’t cause me stress or take up a significant amount of time. Remember these things are to become part of your life forever! Some examples can be, trying to drink 1 more glass of water each day, having an extra hour’s sleep, doing 5 minutes of walking at the end of a workout.

Don’t always focus on the obvious

Alternatively, spending 30 minutes talking to a friend on the phone each week, having an evening ‘screen free’, reading 10 pages or a chapter a week of a new book! Remember not all goals have to be physique originated, our mental health is just as important and something that we should all be working to improve.  Many people’s 2022 goals are targeted towards their physical appearance or weight loss but how many of us aim to build a more positive relationship with our bodies?