Goal Setting

Happy New Year and New Millennium! I hope you enjoyed your holidays and look forward to a great 2001. Perhaps you have made some New Years resolutions or have set some goals concerning your health and fitness. I would like to discuss these goals with you.

My experience has been that the most helpful fitness goals do not focus on weight. If we focus entirely on weight we often set ourselves up for frustration, disappointment and failure. It is unrealistic to base our weight goal on outdated height-weight tables or our high-school weight. It is especially unrealistic to model ourselves after a friend, an acquaintance or a celebrity. We all have different genetics and lifestyles and in the case of celebrities, we do not have access to 24-hour stylists and world-renowned photographers. (I have observed photo shoots of models and I can tell you that the model that appears on a magazine cover is not the same person that arrived at the beginning of the shoot. Whatever "imperfections" the model may have are corrected by makeup, gaffer’s tape, lighting and then Adobe Photoshop software).

I have found that the type of goals that do work focus on health and fitness and follow the "STAR" system. These goals are:

Specific
Trackable
Achievable
Realistic

A "STAR" goal might be to exercise with weights for 45 minutes 3 times per week and do aerobic activity for 30 minutes 5 times per week. Another STAR goal would be to maintain a daily journal of your nutrition intake. I can assure you that if you follow these types of goals you will be fitter, healthier and leaner. As you achieve your goals you might want to challenge yourself further. Let me tell you about some of my past and current goals:

When I started trying to change my 368-pound body, my very first goal was to pedal a Lifecycle 2 minutes everyday. (Anything more than 2 minutes was not achievable or realistic). As I became more fit, I increased my aerobic workouts to 30 minutes and started lifting weights. One day I thought I would try doing a pull-up. I jumped up, grabbed the bar and just hung there, not able to move an inch. My next goal was to get fitter and stronger so that I could do one pull-up. I will never forget the thrill I felt when I pulled myself up for the first time in years.

After I joined the Bay Club, I decided to compete in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, which consisted of a 1.5-mile swim, 18-mile bike and an 8-mile run. However, there were a couple of problems with this goal: with my two bad knees I could not run more than 2 miles and I did not know how to swim. What made this goal achievable and realistic was that I had six months to train and I had the help of Bay Club triathlon coach Susy Jones and my boss Duane Franks, a triathlon veteran. After successfully finishing the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, I also did a half-Ironman. My next goal is to complete the 2002 Ironman Canada.

It is important when we set a goal that we look at our lifestyle and our schedule. Being a brand-new father, I feel that Ironman Canada can be achievable and realistic in 2002 and be extremely difficult, if not impossible, in 2001.

I have talked enough about my goals; I would like to tell you about the goals of some of my Enlighten client alumni. Elizabeth was seventeen and her goal was to get accepted to the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Academy required female applicants to perform 2 pull-ups. Elizabeth could not perform a single pull-up. Rather than focus on her weight, she lifted weights 3 times per week to improve her strength. I am proud to say that she is now starting her third year at the Air Force Academy. (She actually did 3 pull-ups on the test!)

After completing Enlighten, Nicky has finished 2 triathlons and like me has a goal to finish the 2002 Ironman Canada. (I will be overjoyed to see her cross the final finish line. She might very well cross the finish line before I do).

I am currently training Nicola, who has made amazing progress. Before joining Enlighten, she rarely exercised. She has never missed a workout with me and her enthusiasm for physical activity has increased. In May she will be climbing with a Bay Club group to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, 19,340 feet above sea level!

Whether we struggle to pull ourselves up a bar, across a finish line or up a mountain, we should always reach for the STARs and be just as proud of ourselves for when we reach as when we arrive. I hope that 2001 will be a year when you achieve many of your dreams and your goals.

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)