Challenge-Awareness-Commitment-Preparation-Action-Maintain the Gains-Celebration 
Making a Commitment - Goal Setting
 

Setting goals effectively is important enough to deserve a course of its own and is an important aspect of the commitment stage. Here are the basics of good goal setting to get you started!

Goals should be achievable and clear enough that you know what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it, and you will be able to tell how well you've done when you get there.

One method of thinking about goal setting is using the SMART criteria. SMART stands for:

Specific - Your goals should be targeted so you know exactly what's to be done. For example, "I'm going to improve my health" is not as effective as "I'm going to incorporate exercise and vegetables in to my daily routine."

Measurable - If you can't measure it, how will you know you've done it? For example, "I'm going to lose weight" is not as effective as "I'm going to lose 20 pounds over the next 3 months".

Attainable - This means realistic but not necessarily "easy". For example, if you are trying to lose weight, losing 20 pounds is attainable (but not easy) while "fitting in to a size 2" is not realistic (or desirable) for most people.

Relevant - Your goals should make a difference to you in some important way.

Time-based - Set clear target dates for when the goals are to be achieved. How else will you know when to celebrate?!

 

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