S.M.A.R.T. - O.F., Part 2

Last week we started our series on the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting principle to help you optimize it’s use for your goal attainment.

(Scroll back to the “S” from last week if you missed it).

This week, we are dissecting the “M” of the principle, which is to make a goal measurable.

This one seems, and often can be, straight forward. But, sometimes I find it is not given enough thought and used to it’s full potential because it is so straight forward. So let’s look at it a little deeper.

The ‘measurable’ step essentially lays out how you are going to add units of measure to your goal. Let’s say your goal is to be able to walk 30 mins without stopping. You could now argue that this goal has been made measurable since you have added a unit of measurement (minutes). But there is much more to those units of measure.

What else have you done? You have added a way to stay motivated. If you started with 5 mins of walking, and added on over a few weeks, you will see your progress. Visible progress is certainly one way to stay inspired to keep moving toward your goal!

Additionally, sometimes a course of action we have set, turns out differently then planned, right? Without taking some measurements along the way, we might not know what to tweak when we are trying to get back on track. Having measurements gives us data to make informed decisions about what to do next.

If you added on 5 mins to each walk, each week, and began to develop shin splints for example, (which can happen from adding on too much, too soon), you can revise your plan by changing either how many minutes you add to each walk or add those on every other week.

Finally, with a well laid out plan, containing bench mark measurements to hit along the way, you are able to stay accountable to a safe, sensible and effective goal planning process.

One more note about this “M” step in the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting process. Making a goal measurable can be quite easy when we are including the use of numbers such as minutes, weight lifted or number of kilometers travelled, but what about goals which feel less quantifiable?

Wellness isn’t all about the physical of course. When looking at a component such as emotional wellness, or relationship wellness, it may seem impossible to quantify.

Not so. Consider this idea. Let’s say my goal is to improve my emotional wellness by decreasing my stress. Here are some measurable ideas:

-Identifying what activities help with stress, and assign a unit of measure to that activity. “I will spend 5 mins in nature, 5 days per week”. Or,

-”I will rate my stress levels on a scale of 1-10 each morning, midday and evening, and track what I have been doing to begin to find patterns of activities and associated stress levels”.

Though ideas such as these for emotional wellness aren’t as direct as measures such as minutes or kilometers, they can certainly help us become aware of patterns in our emotional wellness, once again giving us data to make informed next steps.

As always, cheering you on to get after your health, wellness and fitness goals!

See you next week when we get into some ‘action’!

Deanna