The importance of goals (and how to set them)

Setting goals is essential to achieving success, particularly when it comes to health and fitness. Without goals, it’s impossible to look back and see how far you’ve come.

At the same time, if your goals are too ambitious they can be detrimental and hold you back. The key? Make them as achievable as possible.

The whole point of a goal is to set a target which will serve as motivation, as opposed to one that causes more negative self-talk. Goals should give you positive feedback as you start hitting them.

Because goals are based on what motivates and drives people, they’re going to be different for everyone. For some people, it will be wanting to have enough energy to play with their kids. For others, it might be wanting to put up shots on Instagram.

Think about what matters to you and make that your goal – because that’s what will get you to tie up your laces or pack your gym bag.

It's important to set goals that will assist you as opposed to goals that will hinder you. That’s why goals need to be a challenge, but they also have to be something you have a high level of control over.

For example, think about if a farmer sets their goal to be a bumper harvest. It's not a great goal to set because it’s reliant on rain, which is outside of his or her control. The same thinking can be applied to exercise. Weight loss as a goal isn't always a useful one, particularly as you build muscle, as your weight can potentially increase even as you become fitter.

Goals also need to be continually reset, to keep you feeling like you're accomplishing something. There's not really an end point with your health, so your goals have to keep changing to reflect that.

As well as having control over achieving your goal, you need to be able to measure it too.

People will generally overestimate what they can achieve in the short term, but underestimate what they can achieve in the long term. So, having realistic short-term goals which reinforce improvement, within an overarching goal of something longer term and more grandiose, is key.

Keeping goals short also improves motivation. Rather than saying, ‘this is something that I'm doing for the rest of my life or the next 20 years’, you're breaking it down into shorter periods. In other words: ‘This is my goal for the next six to eight weeks.’

If you just started running, being able to run 5K might be an initial goal. And that can be broken down even more. The first step is to run 1K, the second step is 2K, the third step is 3K. Once you’ve worked up to 5K, you might set a time limit you want to do that 5K in. I recommend six to ten week periods, so you keep getting the reinforcement that you're improving and you're doing well.

Another example of a good exercise goal could be improving your resting heart rate – it’s something you can control, and is a sign that you're getting healthier. Timing your exercise or measuring the distance you're able to run or ride or swim are also easy, measurable goals you can control.

There will be periods when you're unable to complete your goals in the timeframe you’ve set. That’s okay.

Acknowledging that no one leads a perfect life is also important to reaching your goals. There are going to be cycles where you're sick or you lose motivation or you're really busy at work – that's just going to happen. The key is to not drop too far off. Remember, you can just jump back in with a fresh six to eight-week window.

Former Australian Rules footballer Chris Judd is familiar with how to get your heart rate up and push yourself physically. Twice winner of the prestigious Brownlow Medal, Chris is an honoured sportsman and father to four children, Oscar, Billie, Tom and Darcy. The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances.