Goal setting

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Goal setting is an important part of programme design. If someone doesn’t know what they are aiming they will question why they need to do it. However setting one goal for a years’ time will allow a lot of demotivation to happen. Setting short, medium and long term goals will encourage adherence to the plan and prove to people that they are making progress.

Take for example someone has been a couch potato for the past 2 years and now has decided to run the Cardiff half marathon in 11 months. If you said their goal was to run 4 times a week every week until then they will probably loose motivation. Overdo or underdo the training which can cause injury and for them to then go back and sit on the sofa for another 2 years.

To combat this dilemma a short term goal can be set. For example, run 1 mile without stopping in one month time. This can then show how the person is improving and how they are aiming towards their mid term goal: Run 6 miles without walking in 5 months.

In order for these goals to successful they need to be SMART.