My bad good goal

by Personal Development

No more back outages in 2024! This was the bad goal I told to my personal trainer. It’s not a bad goal because it’s not what I want. It’s a bad goal because I can’t actually make that happen. When we talk about our SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound) we’re missing the A.

 

Can I achieve it? Maybe. I’ve been working with a lot of clients on their goals and we’ve been facing a similar issue. Promotion? New job? Lose weight? These aren’t the things that a person controls.

 

So what to do? Well, we figure out the plan made up of what is within our control.

 

For me it’s:

 

  • Continue with my trainer 2x week – we’re focusing on strength, bone strength, mobility, flexibility, and cardio
  • 7-9 thousand steps (daily average) – walking has always been a great way to keep all my muscles moving and to get blood flowing
  • Morning stretches – this is one of the habits I’ve been pretty consistent with, it’s not a ton of time but I do it almost every day
  • Drink 3 glasses of water a day (~48 ounces) – I know it’s good for me but this has been a tough habit
  • Weekly meal planning – I know that I not only want to eat healthy and get enough protein, etc. but I also want to lose a little weight which I know is good for my health and back (I saw a registered dietician this last year because with my allergies I’ve eliminated a lot of foods and she helped me set some good targets)
  • Check-in with my body – if things aren’t going well I can’t just muscle through, especially if I’ve been sick or am injured in some way, so being really careful and a little slow getting back up to speed is important, my trainer has been great about adjusting as I communicate with her but post-Covid was my last (and hopefully last) bad incident

These are all things that I can control. And I believe if I do all of these things I will increase the chances of hitting my target of no back outages in 2024. And if I don’t? Well, I’ve done what was in my control.

 

So I do the same thing with my clients. What’s in your control? How do you break that down into steps and habits to set yourself up for success?

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Hi, I’m Dana

I help ambitious career-driven leaders gain clarity and make needle-moving decisions to confidently and purposefully get ahead at work without burnout or sacrificing precious family time.

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