My Journey to Health – The Effectiveness of Goal Setting

In addition to the power of habit, the value and effectiveness of goal setting can greatly increase the odds of you achieving your optimal health.

‘A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.’

Harvey Mackay

When I was 19 studying in Mexico, I wrote a few entries in a journal that I discontinued rather quickly. Years later I went back and read the little I had written. One of the things I wrote about was the goal to learn multiple languages and travel around the world using those languages. I had totally forgotten that I had written that down.

Remarkably, I went on to study Italian, German, French, Norwegian and bits of many other languages such as Arabic, Turkish and Greek in addition to the Spanish that I had already studied. I also went on to travel for 14 consecutive months. I mention this as it seems that when one records something intentionally, it often happens and is certainly more likely to happen.

Another time, I was bored on a flight to the East Coast. I often take a personal inventory on such flights. On that flight I just started writing some things I would like to do in life. Climb Mount Rainier, run a marathon and other things that I have now forgotten. As with my journal in Mexico, I had forgotten that I had jotted these things down. I did summit Mount Rainier and went on to run between 15 and 20 marathons (26.2 miles each).

These were not hard goals that I was working towards in either scenario, so imagine what might happen if I wrote down specific goals and tracked my progress towards them! I have not done that much in life.

As an educational administrator at the university level, I did establish goals on a regular basis for our department and the power of tracking them and celebrating success was enjoyable and effective. It works.

I also became proficient at setting goals for marathoning, which I will share later, but otherwise I did not have many specific measurable goals that I have used in my personal life (probably would have been a good thing to practice over the years, but I simply didn’t}.

At age 64 (I am 66 as I type), after my father had died, I started to employ some “goals.” I used to talk with him an hour every day and his death left a big hole in my life. I asked myself how I would fill that hour. I started with very general goals. I decided to learn to juggle, learn the guitar (10 minutes per day), and meditate 10 minutes per day. I started to do that and soon I was juggling and playing rudimentary guitar. The meditation didn’t really stick.

Around my 64th birthday I decided to set a number of very specific physical goals. I would try to juggle for three minutes. Balance on each leg for three minutes. Swim 1000 meters. Make 20 free throws (basketball) consecutively. Hold the plank position for three minutes. Do 100 pushups in a 30-minute period. Lift a certain amount of weight doing different exercises. There were more than these goals. I believe I made 15 goals initially. One included lowering my weight range to 192-195 pounds.

It was interesting to observe what transpired. It provided me with a focus I usually did not have. I was always going to the gym, but just to “work out.” I never really had specific goals. It also provided me with energy and motivation. I would choose each of these goals to go after. I hit the 20 consecutive free throws rather quickly. I could stand on one leg for three minutes much more easily than the other. I did juggle for over three minutes. There were a few goals that were too lofty and that can be dangerous if lifting weights. I may have strained my elbow doing that. So…be careful. But….the goal setting certainly worked.

I have always been reluctant to track my body weight as I found it unpleasant. My weight didn’t change significantly for many years. If I got a little bit lower number I might feel temporarily “relieved,” but even if I felt good before weighing, a bigger number made me feel poorly psychologically, so I just avoided it and focused on how I felt.

When I turned 64, I decided to monitor my weight to see if it changed the dynamics at all. I always weighed myself at approximately the same time at the gym after my workout so that my weight read outs are reliable. As you can see in my “data,” I started out 2025 at around 198 pounds and as of this morning I weighed in at 170. It has been gratifying to see it drop, but I really never dreamed of dropping below 185. The data and accountability has been helpful and has confirmed that I was on track.

SMART GOALS

SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It’s a framework used to set and achieve specific goals.

Breakdown of SMART Goals

1. *Specific*: Clearly define what you want to achieve.

2. *Measurable*: Quantify your goal so progress can be tracked.

3. *Achievable*: Set realistic goals that are challenging yet attainable.

4. *Relevant*: Align your goal with your values, needs, and priorities.

5. *Time-bound*: Establish a specific deadline or timeframe for achieving your goal.

Benefits of SMART Goals

1. *Clarity*: SMART goals provide clear direction and focus.

2. *Focus*: By setting specific goals, you can prioritize your efforts.

3. *Motivation*: Achievable and measurable goals can boost motivation.

4. *Tracking progress*: Measurable goals allow you to track progress and make adjustments.

Example of a SMART Goal

Instead of “I want to be healthier,” a SMART goal would be:

“I will reduce my body fat percentage from 25% to 20% within the next 6 months by exercising for 30 minutes, 3 times a week, and eating a balanced diet.”

This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

SMART GOALS are very useful in trying to establish specific goals that you wish to monitor.

“There’s nothing wrong with having your goals really high and trying to achieve them. That’s the fun part. You may come up short. I’ve come up short on a lot on my goals, but it’s always fun to try and achieve them.“

Tiger Woods

Tiered Goals

This is a term I invented when training for marathons and coaching others to run marathons. Unfortunately, I have not applied it to my own life enough.

After a couple of marathons, I started setting time goals for each race, which typically meant aiming for a specific time, which of course would be my best time ever. The problem I encountered is that if at mile 20 during a 26.2 mile race, I realized my goal was out of reach it was devastating psychologically, and anybody who has run a marathon will know, that you need every bit of positive energy you can draw on and knowing that my goal was out of reach destroyed my energy.

With that in mind, I developed a system of what I labelled as “tiered goals.” I don’t know if this is a practice of others, but for me it was original. I set up a series of goals I could shoot for every race, regardless of how the race progressed and I labeled these as tiered goals as they were a sort of hierarchy of goals.

1. My first goal was to reach the starting line healthy, which is sometimes difficult when training hard.
2. I would then set my dream goal and that was to break three hours in the marathon. This goal took me approximately five years to reach.
3. The next goal was to break my previous best time (for example….if I had run three hours and two minutes….anything below that).
4. If I was unable to make a personal best, I then would say…..below three hours and twenty minutes, as sometimes things just fall apart during the race.
5. Four hours could be another goal
6. Finally….just finishing the race.

This manner of establishing tiered goals allowed me to remain positive throughout the race and feel successful regardless of the outcome. I finished every race I started, established lots of personal bests and eventually broke three hours with a time of two hours, fifty-five minutes  and 52 seconds, which is an average of six minutes and 42 seconds per mile for 26.2 miles. Not bad for a guy that weighed almost 190 pounds.

This same method of setting tiered goals can be applied to most things in life. Try it out!

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.”

Andrew Carnegie