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Business Owners in the health & fitness industry benefit from the ‘January Get Fit’ resolutions. Gyms get a massive influx of new members, personal trainers sign up new hopeful clients and sports retailers rake in the cash from the purchasing of running gear. In fact the health & fitness industry is notorious for the increase in sales & sign ups and it’s very hard to keep all these new people.
Some will stay and achieve their goal and likely they had a goal, they had a plan and they stuck to it. The rest of us fall of the wagon with little effort to jump back on. You become a statistic at your gym on the ‘non attendance’ report while they continue to collect your Direct Debit each month. Your brand new running gear never gets to go for a run again and that dreaded fitness ball gets deflated and put back in the cupboard.
Let’s not make the same mistakes again, and again. Turn your new years resolution in to a goal you’ll hit.
Step 1 – be SPECIFIC
It’s no good setting a goal if it’s only in your head, in order to start the thought process and necessary ACTIONS that must follow to achieve your goal, it must be clear, prominent and you must be constantly reminded of your goal. So, get a pen and write down all your goals you want to achieve, split them if you like into personal and business and put them somewhere you’ll see them daily. If you prefer, you could make a digital version but make sure it’s prominent and not burred in a file you’ll not see for sometime.
Make your goal SPECIFIC, E.G I want to lose 1 stone. NOT; I want to lose weight. remember your goal must be specific, pin down exactly what it is you want.
Step 2 – make it MEASURABLE
Many goals or resolutions can have a variety of ways they could be achieved, some might be more effective than others, some might be quicker, some cheaper, some more expensive or some just better suited to YOU. Get this part right and pick the path that ultimately will lead you to your goal.
Can you quantify progress along your goal, can it be MEASURED? Goals that can not be measured are very hard to achieve and likely are not an achievable goal.
If you want to lose 1 stone, then your measurable factor could be weighing yourself or calculating your body fat percentage (this part comes back to the specific goal setting at the start, is it that you want to lose weight overall or do you want to lose ‘x’ amount of body fat?
Step 3 – Make it ACHIEVABLE
Now you know what your goals or resolutions are, you need to PLAN how you will achieve them. There will be things that need to be done to get them started, to get the ball rolling. It might be giving someone a call, sending an email, registering for a product or service for help.
Identifying stages that need to be achieved along the path to your goal will help you decide whether or not it’s actually ACHIEVABLE. If it’s not achievable, at least for now you’ll need to set a more achievable goal which you and others around you agree you can reach.
If your goal is to lose 1 stone and you have never been that weight or lost that much before, this could be harder to achieve. Make it something you CAN achieve. I want to lose half a stone might be more achievable for you.
Step 4 – Check it’s REALISTIC and RELEVANT
Your goal should not be a pipe dream, I’m not saying don’t set yourself outrageous goals, I’m saying for a REALISTIC new years resolution that you want to turn into a definitive goal it has to be realistic. For example, wanting to compete in the next Olympics for someone who has never trained before is not realistic (not impossible) just not realistic. Therefore you might want to set your goal as, to excel at the 200 meters at a national level. This does not rule out your outrageous goal, in fact, it takes you along the path to getting there but it’s much more realistic.
Step 4 – Set a DEADLINE, make it TIME FRAMED
Being specific as to when you want to achieve your goal is one of the key factors that turn your resolution into a goal, for example ‘ I want to lose 1 stone in 4 months’. By adding time or date to achieve your goal you have made it TIME FRAMED.
“the difference between a goal & a dream is a deadline”
Don’t just want it, want it by a certain time, you’ll be much more likely to achieve it and deadlines motivate us all. If your teacher/lecturer asked you to write an essay and hand it in when it’s done! It might not ever get done, if they said hand it in by next week, the chances of it getting down have improved countless times.
