Post-Olympic Blues

The Rio 2016 Olympics have come to a close and you might be wondering how you'll spend your evenings now that there are no events to watch. You might also wonder how the athletes feel having trained so hard for one event that's come and gone. Can the lure of Tokyo 2020 be enough to sustain them for four long years? Would that work for you? Even if you're not an Olympic athlete, setting goals is the best way to motivate you to keep moving towards the target. But how do you ensure you actually get there? Most people know that setting goals is important, and perhaps that writing it down takes you one step further. But there are a couple of key steps missing. 1. Make it meaningful Most of us have heard of SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) and those are great principles. But more importantly the goal should be meaningful. That goal, and the visualisation of achievement, is what will pull you through the tough times so it's extremely important that you care enough about reaching your goal. I once had a client who said her goal was to lose 30 pounds by her wedding day. That kind of goal definitely met the SMART criteria but when I asked her why that was her goal, she said the extra weight made her knees hurt which made it difficult to walk. When I asked what eliminating the pain would mean for her, she said she wanted to walk down the aisle without grimacing in pain. Turns out, her meaningful goal was to walk down the aisle on her wedding day without her knees hurting. 2. Outcome versus behaviour goals Just when you thought goal-setting was finished after one round, along comes something else to think about. As you might expect, outcome goals focus on a specific end result. For example, your outcome goal is 'finishing the waterfront marathon'. In this case, if you cross that finish line, you'll have achieved the desired outcome and your goal. Behaviour goals are set to help you achieve the specific outcome. So in the example above, you might set behaviour goals like: a) go for a run three times a week b) eat an appropriate amount of protein with each meal c) go to bed early on week nights These behaviour goals describe the type of activity you need to do in order to achieve your outcome goal.

3. Plan to do it Setting goals can be a difficult task, but once you've gone through it, you need to plan out how to do it. This might involve blocking time in your calendar for your run, planning your meals in advance, and making sure you register for that marathon on time. All the little things add up and can be the difference between achieving your goal and watching it pass by. 4. Show up Setting the goal is great. Planning how to get there is better. But showing up to do it is the best. For every step you have planned out, you need to show up and work hard. Whether that's your training session, the meal you're cooking, or the rest week you scheduled, you need to give everything you have in order to reach your goal. We all have good days and bad days, good workouts and bad works, but knowing that you tried your best at each one will enable to you to progress faster and stronger. 5. Celebrate! This part often gets overlooked. Think in advance how you're going to celebrate achieving your goal. If the goal is a long way away, you also need to set milestones and plan the mini-celebration for those. The journey to the goal doesn't need to be all sweat and tears. Laughter and joy are fabulous aids to achieving your goals and celebrating is the easiest way to include those.

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