How To Start Setting Your Goals

I have some advice that can help you to create fitness motivation that lasts! It’s about goal setting, which I’m sure is something you’ve heard about. 

Even small changes to your day can help you to feel better and to have more energy — so let’s get started and set some goals you can really achieve!

How to start setting goals you can achieve

Here are some tips to help you set goals that will inspire you to keep going until you achieve them.

Know what YOU want

It’s easy to set a goal based on what you perceive others expect of you — but is it really what you want?

When setting your fitness goals, the first thing you need to work out is what’s important to you. 

Maybe you feel that you should aim to look a certain way, but deep down what is most important to you is actually being fit enough to keep up with your kids! 

When you work towards goals that are MEANINGFUL to you, you are much more likely to approach your goals with a healthy mindset and to find the determination to achieve your goals. 

What hard work are you willing to do?

No worthwhile goal can be achieved without hard work! This means that when you are setting your fitness goals, you need to take into consideration what you are willing to do to achieve it. 

When you really want a particular goal, you also have to want to do what it will take to reach it. Enjoying the process because you know it’s going to be worth it, is as important as the result you are working towards. 

I’ll give you an example from my journey in 2019. As many of you know, in 2019 I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, Arna. Getting back into fitness after my pregnancy was a HUGE awakening for me — it was the first time I’d ever had to begin again. 

Even though it was hard, and I’d never felt so weak in my entire life, I showed up for myself every day and worked SLOWLY to rebuild my fitness and strength. My goal was to do 15 pull-ups by December, and I reached it! 

I’m telling you this — it wasn’t the number of pull-ups that I could do that was important. It was every single day that I showed up to train, whether I was tired or I didn’t feel like it, I still showed up and did SOMETHING. 

As I regained my strength, I regained my confidence — and that was what was really important to me. I started to feel confident that I could be a strong role model and mother. I was willing to put in the work because I knew my goal would be WORTH IT!   

Write down your goals

When you write down your goals, you are MUCH more likely to accomplish them. 

Once your goals are written down, the next step is to focus your efforts. When you know exactly what you are working to achieve, you’ll be less likely to make excuses because you can see that that one training session is part of a bigger plan to get you to your goal! 

Don’t write down your goals and just put them in a drawer. Break that big goal into smaller actions you can take each week. 

Review your goals regularly and make adjustments to your smaller, weekly goals to make sure that you are consistently working towards your big goal. 

Make yourself accountable

I recommend that you get an accountability partner and that you put an accountability system in place to keep you on track. Both are important!

Your accountability buddy can be a friend, partner or family member who you check in with each week — maybe it’s someone who shares a similar goal to you! The SWEAT forum is a great place to find someone to keep you accountable for your fitness goals. 

Review your progress once a week with this person to keep yourself on track.

An accountability system is how you will achieve your goal. Connecting your goal-oriented actions to something you already do can help lock it into your schedule. For example, if your big goal is to do 20 full pushups, your daily action might be to do ten modified pushups, three mornings each week before you have breakfast. As you get stronger, use the progressions to increase the difficulty until you can do all 20! 

Discover discipline

When you set a new goal, the most important factor in whether you will achieve it is whether you show up consistently during the first few weeks. Even if you don’t complete the whole workout you’ve set, building the habit of showing up is essential. 

Starting a workout program like High Intensity with Kayla can be tough, and you might want to give up. It takes discipline to show up, knowing that each time you do, the next time will be a little bit easier. 

Tracking your fitness progress can help you to find the discipline to keep going. 

Once you’ve set your goal, make a plan to achieve it!

Once you’ve taken the time to write down the goal that lights you up, it’s time to make a plan to achieve it. 

Regular exercise is important, but you’ll need to train to reach a specific fitness goal! Find a training program that will help you to reach the goal and fits in with your lifestyle.

You’re never alone when you’re working towards your goals! You can join the SWEAT Community for accountability and support along the way. 

Do you have a goal setting tip to share? Tell me in the comments below!