In this post I will tell you about some smart goals examples, which are real life case studies with me as the guinea pig.

How it all started….

Lately I had been realizing that the round thing above my waist, called a belly, didn`t get any smaller.

I had been in a relationship for about two years, and the relationship had given me joy, love and comfort, and last, but not least, a 23,5 pound large “front-pack”.

To be quite honest, I knew about the ever-growing problem.

The case was that I just wanted to ignore it.

Unfortunately, as with most things ignored…

they don`t go away.

The belly was like a little kid begging for daddy`s attention: “Hey, daddy, I am here. I am HERE!!”

And when I didn`t give it any attention, it did the only reasonable thing; it grew larger, so it couldn`t be ignored.

Why I Decided To Do Something About The Problem

That summer I was invited to my dad`s wedding, and while standing in my bedroom trying on my suit pants, I realized I had two choices:

1. To buy a new suit pants in a LARGER size

2. To accept that fact that I was overweight and decide to do something about it!

So for the first time in two years, I finally went for the latter choice.

How should I start?

I started to write down my ultimate goal, deadline and the activities (methods) I wanted to use to reach my goal.

Goal: to lose 10 pounds
Date: 15th of June (1 month and 15 days)
Activities/methods:
– change what I eat
– change how much I eat (especially dinner, I had a bad habit of eating more even though, I was full)
– start to exercise

I made it clear that I didn`t want to lose weight doing certain kind of strict diets and I didn`t want to go hungry, since it makes me very cranky. The most important thing, was that I wanted to do it in a natural way, so I would be able to keep on doing the activities for a long time.

Many people who want to lose weight start out with very strict diets. Some of the diets will work if you follow them systematically. However, when you later decide to go back to your normal way of eating, the fat will come flying back, like mosquitoes to a torch.

I decided to use the DUMB SMART System to reach my big hairy goal.

Then I broke the big goal(DUMB) down into three smaller goals (SMART).

Photo by freedigitalphotos.net (nokhoog_buchachon)

SMART Goal 1 – Change What I Eat

Specific: Stop eating sugar, salt and candy. Stop consuming all drinks containing sugar.

Measureable: Yes (either I consume the ingredients above, or I don`t.)

Attainable: Yes.

Relevant: Yes – this is a relevant goal towards me losing 10 pounds in 45 days.

Time-based: Yes – 15th of June (1 month and 15 days.)

 

Photo by freedigitalphotos.net (nixxphotography)

SMART Goal 2 – Eat Less

Specific: Stop overeating (especially dinner). When I am full, I will stop eating.

Measureable: Yes.

Attainable: Yes.

Relevant: Yes – this is a relevant goal towards me losing 10 pounds in 45 days.

Time-based: Yes – 15th of June (1 month and 15 days.)

Photo by freedigitalphotos.net(Sura Nualpradid)

SMART Goal 3 – Start To Exercise

Specific: Start running 3 times a week (40 minutes each time.)

Measureable: Yes.

Attainable: Yes.

Relevant: Yes – this is a relevant goal towards me losing 10 pounds in 45 days.

Time-based: Yes – 15th of June (1 month and 15 days.)

The End Result

Due to the revealing title of this post, you don`t need to be Sherlock Holmes in order to find out what the end result was.

Yes, I lost 13 pounds in 29 days. What I really liked about my approach, was that it was an easy and natural way of losing weight. I wasn`t starving myself to death, nor was I following some psycho Nazi-diet, which meant that I had to be a robot in order to complete it.

Then over to the one million dollar question…

How Did I Make Myself Exercise When I didn`t feel like it?

When I set this goal, I didn`t wish, hope or just plan to reach this goal (to see if I perhaps would achieve it). I actually DECIDED. That word means to actually cut off all other alternatives. To fail was not an option (yes, that sounds like a movie cliché, but it`s still true.)

My burning desire towards reaching the goal was HUGE. In addition, I had two other motivational factors:
– The avoidance of pain by not reaching my goal was unacceptable for me
– The pursuit of pleasure by achieving the goal was VERY inspiring

For more information on the motivational factors read the following blog post: These Actions Will Murder Your Personal Goal Setting.

In order to reach your goal, you should have one of those factors. The stronger your feelings are about reaching your goal, or fail, the stronger your persistence will be, which will increase your chance of succeeding.

If your big goal triggers very strong emotions towards both reaching and failing your goal, you will have doubled your chance to succeed.

To wrap it up; I basically told myself the following: “I am a machine. I am programming myself to reach my goal. I will perform the necessary tasks no matter what, whether I feel like it or not.”

Do you want to make changes in your life?

Use the same approach as I did. Write down your big goal, and then break it down to smaller SMART goals.

Good luck, you can do it!

What changes do you want to make in your life?