Setting a fitness goal that really works

Sometimes it is our own biology. One day we find ourselves sitting in front of a physician, learning bad news about some lifestyle condition, knowing that it is time to start moving a little more. And sometimes working out is a plain burden and we just want to get that morning walk checked off of our to-do list.

When you are not in control of setting your own goals, you are pushed into one that may not be the best for you. And there are many forces already nudging you in that direction. Can you feel it?

Visualize failure: Envision what could go wrong in the future if you continue stalling. This bitter truth will propel you to get started or rekindle the realisation that the right time to start is now.

Set a moderately hard goal: You need to set a goal that is not too easy or too difficult to achieve. Set a goal that is not easy to achieve all the time. A good rule of thumb is to be able to achieve your goal 80 percent of the time.

Be conservative, there are unforeseen circumstances lurking around for you: Commitments, lack of motivation, inconveniences, etc. All contribute to you losing out on achieving your goal. You will not meet your goals every day, and it is ok; catch them 80 percent of the time.

Set an urgency: This is one the most important aspects of setting a goal. A work that is time-bound is highly likely to be completed because the going can be made easier with a finish line in sight. Create urgency by creating a deadline or placing a reward. Set yourself to achieve a goal within three to six months; don't let your enthusiasm die by setting a goal without urgency.

Break your goal into small targets: You need to complete some aspect of your goal daily, weekly or monthly. Breaking your goals into smaller laps will allow you to plan and track your progress. For instance, if your goal is to lose weight, you could further break it down to losing 10kgs in six months. You could then map your daily effort; here’s an example how you could do that:

You need to essentially burn 78,000 calories in 180 days. This means every day you need to burn 433 calories. Now you may walk 6 km to burn that many calories or eat fewer chapatis, or do little of both. Failing to meet your daily goal is an indicator that you will likely not meet your goal.

Let’s further dissect these methods to understand how they work and why they are important for setting goals.

Wanting to be fit and healthy is essentially a desire, and when unreliable sources (like films and advertisements) start to instill such desires, you have to work with it. If an interminable passion to develop abs is the only way to get you started, no problem, here’s what you do. Ask yourself, does getting abs mean that you lose weight? If yes, weight loss becomes your plausible goal. And this changes everything.

As you acknowledge that you need to lose weight, it is easier to plan your next step. The basic principle is to consume fewer calories than you are burning throughout your day. You can do this by engaging in regular physical activity or by lowering your calorie intake. Or both.

You can simply start by eating fewer calories. But perhaps that doesn't sound too exciting, does it? And this is a common problem–planning a course that is too easy or not challenging enough to excite or engage you. In carving out a reasonable goal out of an unreasonable one, you don’t want to make things so easy that the thought of getting into action fails to bring a sense of excitement. And, it shouldn't be so tough that the very thought of starting scares you.

Your fitness goal is a strong determinant of your nutritional and recovery needs, and your first real shot at getting a good and sustainable start into improving your fitness. Think of your fitness goal as the elephant in the room, address it first.

Is it really a start if there is no end in sight? Imagine we find ourselves at the start line and hear a gunshot, commanding us to start running. By all means, we will begin and continue to run. But after some point, as we fail to spot a finish line on the horizon, we will likely stop and question ourselves. Finish line is not a point where all your efforts come to a halt. Finish line does a fabulous job of instilling a sense of urgency. Most athletes cross the finish line with a renewed purpose, a better goal in mind.

I find that the to-be brides have hacked this system. A bride who onboards a fitness journey to fulfill the demands of her wedding dress likely achieves her goal. Secret? She has discovered a sense of urgency–her wedding date. If getting married is not an option right now (or anymore), pick a date or leverage an occasion to your advantage.

For instance, a timeline of three months is adequate to see some positive results, be it weight loss or muscle gain. You can break three months into 12 weeks, creating 12 finish lines and pulling them closer in sight, one at a time. As you dissect your goal into parts, you don't have to burden yourself with the thought of losing weight in the first week, but simply show up on the field and try to have fun while moving a little more.

It is ok to fail. Failure, to a certain degree, is unavoidable. But take a moment, and push your imagination into the future. A future that visibly illustrates what you have become as a result of sedentary behavior. Find yourself in the future where you have either acquired a lifestyle condition or these conditions have grown severe to a degree that they contribute the most to your misery. Your cost of living (or existence) has gone up because of medical interventions, and only you can be a better judge of the quality of your life at this point.

I cannot stress enough how important regular physical activity is for someone who suffers from a heart condition, or diabetes, or any other lifestyle condition. A year of regular workouts can have magical effects, including something as simple as regular walking or running for 30 minutes.

Each time you find yourself derailed from your fitness journey, imagine where this attitude will take you in the next five years–try to evaluate the price you pay every time you push your start line into the future.

A charm of any new expedition is that it involves learning something new. But sadly there is nothing new about fitness and nutrition that we don’t know, right? It is not your fault. Heresy is a strong contender against science when it comes to matters concerning our health and fitness.

Your fitness is a beautiful quest, and what makes it beautiful is its sheer complexity. You are a living, breathing, and walking phenomenon that continues to amaze one of the greatest minds this planet has to offer. Allow your condition to inspire curiosity. If you think you can be better, you sure can. And this simple acknowledgment demands that you have to try and test new things, and keep an open mind.

You will find this quality in most successful athletes. In a conversation with Keira D’Amato, who is the fastest American woman marathon runner, I was amazed to learn that she managed to squeeze in her running practice, while managing a house with her three kids, and fulfilling a day job as a realtor, all because she was curious to test how she can be better. What is more fascinating is that she perceived her training as her quality time.

We have enough stories to break any notion that tells us to wait for an ideal time or situation to arrive–to get started. What is a perfect world, but a figment of our imagination. You have to start and test what works for you.

You will find yourself fiddling with your routine enough to tell you that things are not working out for you, but it is a part of the process. You don't have to assume but keep testing. Staging a goal is your best chance to start, and you will only start if you care. Do you care about your fitness?