Day 4: Do you know how to set goals?

Goal setting is both a science and an art. While most people think that setting goals means just picking something you don’t have right now and going for it, there’s more to it than that.

To unlock the power of goal setting, use the following tips:

Set Goals That Are Specific and Measurable

When setting goals for yourself, make sure that these goals can be measured accurately and are specific enough to focus on the change that’s most needed or important to you. “I will look really good naked” doesn’t really give you anything measurable or specific to work on. However, “I will lose 15 lbs of body fat” does. This latter goal is specific as it refers to losing one thing – body fat and it’s measurable as it specifies a number – 15 lbs.

Set Goals That Are Challenging but Realistic

Goals must be big enough to inspire you to action but not so big that you get frustrated with the impossibility of accomplishing them. Setting a goal like “I will to lose 80lbs and be on the cover of next year’s December issue of Men’s Health or next year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” is too lofty to start with. However, for someone who is 160lbs and 25% body fat, setting a goal such as “I will be 130lbs and 12% body fat by the end of the year” is probably a better idea.

Set Goals That Have Short-Term and Long-Term Components

When setting your goals, make sure you’ve got small goals that are applicable to today, bigger goals that are applicable to next week, bigger goals yet applicable to next month, and the biggest goals applicable to next year. By setting aside little time points, you’ll have mile markers on the way to your success. It also helps you appreciate the fact that great long term progress feels like it’s happing pretty slowly.

Remember, if you want to drop from 160 at 25% to 130 at 12% in a year, which means you’ll have to drop about 25lbs of body fat in 52 weeks. Over the course of 12 months, that’s about 2 lbs of fat a month. So be patient!

At this point, these proven strategies should give you a great start toward setting powerful goals. However, perhaps the most powerful goal setting strategy you can adopt is this one:

Frame Goals Around Behaviors, Not Outcomes

Do you know the difference between a behavior and an outcome goal? Well, a behavior goal is a goal based on something you can directly control and do yourself. While an outcome goal is a goal based on the end product of a series of behaviors.

Unfortunately, most people set outcome goals such as the following:

"I will lose ten pounds in ten weeks."
"I will make $100,000 next year."

While these goals are specific and measurable and may be challenging and attainable, one problem is this. They are outcomes. And, as stated above, outcomes are beyond your control. After all, you can’t control your fat cells and their rate of fat metabolism by just hoping they’ll shrink. And you can’t force someone to pay you $100,000 per year. What you can control, however, are your behaviors.

So how can you pick better goals, goals based on behaviors? Try these on for size:

Want to lose ten pounds in ten weeks? Then start by understanding what behaviors you can adopt immediately that'll lead to this result. Make these your goals. Here are a few examples:

I will exercise for at least five hours per week.
I will eat five to six meals each day.
I will eat vegetables with every meal.
I will avoid alcohol this week.

And how about the financial thing?

I will go back to school and get an advanced degree in my field.
I will spend most of my time on big, high return projects.
I will improve one aspect of my job performance each day.
I will duplicate the behaviors of others that are making the amount of money I want to make.

In the end, if you make goals out of behaviors, behaviors you can control, your outcome goals (things like your body composition, salary, etc.) will fall right in line without you having to worry about them.

And one final tip for goal setting is this:

Tell Someone About It

Once you set specific goals that you’re committed to sticking to, tell someone about them right away and ask that person to hold you accountable. If a goal is a secret, it’s easy to blow it off. If you’ve got someone holding you accountable to a higher standard, you’re more likely to get it done.

Now that you’ve got the goal-setting basics, it’s time to set some goals for the next 12 weeks.

Let’s set your first two goals right now.

To do so, think of the results of your social support questionnaire, your kitchen inventory, your readiness questionnaire and your current eating and exercise behaviors. Once you’ve got these in your mind, think about the areas that are in need of immediate improvement.

Next, pick two specific and measurable behavior goals related to these changes. These goals should be things that you can attain this week. Write them down.

Now that these short-term goals are recorded, go and tell someone about them. Tell them what you’re intending to accomplish and that you want them to hold you accountable to achieving them.

Long-Term Goals

Next, let’s set some longer-term goals.

Again, considering the questionnaires you’ve already filled out and your current lifestyle habits, think of two specific and measurable behaviors that you can improve upon over the course of the next few months.

Write these behavior goals down.

Again, tell someone about them and make sure they know to hold you accountable.

Now, let’s come up with two desired outcomes that you think will come as a result of the behavior goals you established above.

For the first desired outcome, think of the outcome you’d most like to see achieved by the end of the next twelve weeks. Write it down.

And for the second desired outcome, think of the outcome you’d most like to see achieved by the end of a full year. Write it down.

Keep in mind that these desired outcomes are not your goals! They are the things that you’re hoping will happen as a result of accomplishing your behavior goals above. If they don’t come, you’ve got to reassess where your challenges lie and figure out a new set of behavior goals that will better help you achieve your desired outcomes.

Tomorrow's lesson: The rules of the game -- what they are, and how knowing and following them will completely change your body.

See you then,

John M. Berardi, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.

PS: If you want to learn exactly how to set goals -- and more importantly, exactly how to modify your diet to reach them faster than you thought possible, pick up a copy of Precision Nutrition. In it, I detail the complete system I use with clients around the world for unheard of results.

PPS: Order now and get $50 off discount to the complete Precision Nutrition kit! You've taken the initiative with this course -- now put it into practice with Precision Nutrition.