2011 Smart Plan

Did you get off track over the Holidays and you’re not sure how to get back “on”? Do you have goals you want to reach in 2011, but you’re not sure how to? Try the 2011 SMART PLAN! With the 2011 Smart Plan, you’ll learn how to create your goals and how to stay on track until you reach them.

Specific

Measuarble

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

PLAN

Specific: Be specific with your goals. Don’t just plan to run a marathon or lose 50 pounds. Instead make it a specific goals like, “I will run the Twin Cities Marathon this fall” or I will lose 50 pounds by September 1st. Being specific makes the goal “real” because you have a specific thing you are striving for.

Measurable: Make your goal measurable! If your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date, determine how much weight you’d have to lose per month to reach that goal. This creates smaller goals out of a larger one. Sometimes the big picture can feel so far away, but meeting the smaller goals will keep you motivated to reach the ultimate one!

Attainable & Realisitic: Make sure your goal is attainable. Losing 50 pounds in one month is NOT ATTAINABLE OR REALISTIC! No matter what you see on the Biggest Loser, no person living in the real world can lose weight that fast in a healthy way. Just like you can’t go from no activity to running a marathon in 1 month. Make sure your goal is one that you can attain. Setting goals that are not realistic is only setting yourself up for failure and a huge let down.

Timley: Set a time frame of when you’d like to reach your goal. If you don’t set a time frame of when you’d like to reach your goal, then the commitment is too vague and you might play the “I’ve still got time” game. You can also break down the large time frame into smaller ones to help you stay motivated and moving forward. If you are looking to run longer distances, plan to run “X” miles one week and add on a half mile the next week, and then another half mile the next week until you are you to the distance you want to run.

PLAN: Plan for slip ups and temptations. We live in the real world and in the real world NO ONE is perfect. You will reach a point during your journey where someone says “Come on…just one piece of cake”. You may feel tempted, but do you know what you’ll do in that situation if you really don’t want to eat that cake. Or, if you do eat the cake, are you prepared for the possibility of eating another, and another, and another? Plan for this so you can be ready if you find yourself in this situation and how you will stay on or get back on track.