How to Set Targets... and Keep Them!
18 March 2016
It's a story for the ages... man or woman sets a New Year resolution to get fit, man or woman enthusiastically signs up for a gym membership or boot camp in January, man or woman misses a few sessions at said gym or boot camp, man or woman loses motivation, man or woman gives up.
Some version of this tale has probably played out in your life dozens of times before - after all, of the 63% of UK adults who failed to keep a New Year resolution last year, it lasted less than a month for 43% of them.
But, it’s now March and the sun is coming out, so how can you break that damaging cycle and actually, really, finally reach your fitness goals?
Make your targets achievable
We may be often told in life to "aim for the stars", but for many of us, such an attitude encourages us to set goals that are simply unrealistic. Even the very best weight loss retreats and fitness boot camps can't perform miracles, so work on the basis of small, but significant baby steps.
Believe your goal is achievable
This is just the same tip as the one above, right? Not quite. It doesn't matter how low you set your target, if you just don't believe it will happen. If you constantly say to yourself, "I'm too busy to ever enrol on a boot camp", guess what will happen?
As one especially famous quote goes, "Those who say it cannot be done are usually interrupted by those doing it". Activate your inner Steve Jobs or Roger Bannister - the latter the first man to run a four-minute mile, after which, many others quickly achieved the same - when setting new fitness goals.
Be clear about your goal
If you are simply thinking about your target in vague terms like "losing weight" or "exercising more", you're bound to feel a lack of direction, motivation and commitment - after all, what are you even working towards? What is there to get excited about?
Instead, visualise in true full colour, high definition, what your goal actually is. Consider not only an exact target to which you can make yourself accountable - for instance, losing a certain number of pounds - but also how you will feel when you reach this goal.
Imagine your family's amazed faces when they find out how much weight you've lost, or those admiring glances from potential romantic partners when they see your newly toned beach body.
Be conscious of your decision-making
A lot of the complaints about those failing to achieve their fitness goals relate to a perceived lack of willpower - we've all heard the "I only need to look at a cake to get fat" type comment. However, if you actually pay attention to your decisions, you will see previously unnoticed opportunities to edge yourself closer to your goal.
Are we saying that you should never be within a 200-mile radius of chocolate or should go to the gym literally every day, without fail? Of course not - it's that kind of all-or-nothing thinking that turns so many determined resolution-makers into quitters.
Instead, shrug off the occasional bad decision as just a natural part of the process - a reminder that you are human. Continue playing the 'long game', with your eyes set firmly on the target even when you get knocked off course from time to time, and you will reap the rewards.
Another great bit of advice is to take some kind of constructive action right now towards your health and fitness goals - so why not do that right now, by signing up for one of our boot camps here at Prestige Boot Camp?
