Did you make some health and fitness goals for yourself last month?

And have you stuck with them? You know a lot of people have trouble sticking to resolutions and staying on track with their goals, So if you do too, you’re not alone.

While growing up most of us aren’t taught how to effectively make and accomplish goals. For that reason, it’s not something that comes naturally for most people. If you stop to think about it, you may realize that you weren’t officially taught that skill either.

I learned most of what I know about setting and accomplishing goals in my MBA program and afterwards in my additional reading. Interestingly enough, I find many things I learned in business school are applicable to many other areas of life – fitness and health are no exception.

In this post, I’m sharing how to make goals for your health and fitness that work. But, before we go on I’d like you to take some notes for yourself, so I want you to get something to write with and write on. Then watch the 6 minute video above, or read on below for a small sample of my coaching on this.

There are five things that you’ve got to have going on in order for your goals for health and fitness to work.

They’re not the only things, but they are the most important.

1. Your goal has to be as specific as possible.

You can’t say I want to get healthy. You need to be more specific than that. Do you want to lose ten pounds? You want to be able to run five miles? Do you want to gain muscle mass and lose body fat and have a different sized waste? Get specific and write down. Have you ever heard the phrase “ a goal is only a dream until you write it down”. Well, that’s really is true.

When things come out of your head and onto paper and into the world, they start to become more real. But that’s not the only step you need to take.

2. You’ve got to believe, deep down, that your goal is worthy of your efforts.

You can’t get fit or healthy because it’s something that someone told you to do. You have to want it for yourself. Here’s a little exercise that will help you to understand your deeper reasons why you might want this goal. Take 60 seconds to do it with me. Then write what you discover:

  • Close your eyes and think about Why you want to achieve the goal that you created for yourself? Is it so you feel better in your body? Is it so you can have more energy? Is it so you can play with your kids more. So you can spend more quality time with your grandchildren? Write it down.
  • Next imagine yourself having achieved your goal, and feeling and doing all the things you imagine you can do once you’ve gotten there. Really be there in the moment, doing some of those things you’ll be able to do. Feeling the way you’ll feel when you reach your goal. See yourself in your ideal body. How does it feel?

Great. Now you’ve got your reason and you know that goal is worth achieving. I want you to close your eyes and put yourself into that state of mind at least once every morning for the next 2 weeks. Put yourself in that place of who you’re working towards being. Watch how it motivates you to stay focused and on track moving forward.

Come back and let me know how that works for you in the comments below. And, you don’t have to stop after two weeks, if it works for you, keep doing it.

3. Pick 2 small things you can do now, that will be small steps towards your goal.

Make them something you know you can achieve. They can be things like: going for a ten-minute walk every weekday, drinking one less soda every day; eating at least one serving of vegetable with every dinner, having a healthy breakfast, or adding five more miles onto your weekend bike ride. Does that make sense?

Pick just two things and write them down. Try to reach these two, mini goals, for the next two weeks. In two weeks, if you feel these goals are easy and you’re ready to add something more to them, then do that. If you feel like you need a little more time to integrate them into your life, then stick with them for a little while longer.

I’d love it if you shared with me in the comments what your small goals are, and what you did with them (keep them, or add more) after two weeks.

4. Write these two small goals into your calendar with a reminder.

If you’re going to walk every day at lunch put that in your calendar. If you’re going to eat more vegetables for dinner, put a reminder right around when you start to make dinner for yourself to remember your dinner goal.

Put it in your calendar. I know you’re busy, and busy people get important things done when they schedule them.

5. Have patience with yourself.

You know, we really can’t hack our bodies or trick our bodies into being healthier. That just doesn’t work despite what some would want you to think. The body takes time to change. You most likely know what you need to do to make your changes. It’s just that you need to actually be doing these things.

And now, I’m speaking to you as the exercise physiologist and nutritionist – the one most important factor in your getting fitter and healthier is consistency. You keep making those healthy choices over and over again –  keep making the choice to exercise and choosing the foods you know are good for you –  and you will see results!

What do you think?

Are you going to try it for yourself? Put a comment below.

If you like this information you’ll probably like my  book, Eat to Lead.  And, if you’d like to see more videos like this and get more of my everyday tips for being successful at your fitness goals, subscribe to this blog and my e-mail list here. I’d love to have you as part of the group!