Wellness Choices Presentation: SMART Goal

By Joshua Thompson

My Goal

Specific: I want to exercise at least 5 days a week. I want to do this so that I can be in great physical condition.

Measurable: The difficult part will be staying motivated if I miss a few days. To resolve this, each week will be a new start.

Attainable: Planning my schedule to accommodate enough exercise, eating and sleeping will be essential.

Realistic: I know I can do this, because I did as an undergraduate. Preparation of food and adequate sleep will help me find the motivation that I will need.

Timely: The more I succeed, the better my body will feel. I will give myself reinforcing rewards when I succeed and after eight weeks, I hope to have established a long-lasting habit.

Reinforcing Factors

I have a passion for living health living which includes exercise.

My best friend, even though he lives States away, is a great motivator when I need one.

Weighing myself and using my appearance became a motivation to workout more and harder.

Listening to Tony Robbins on the ‘’power of momentum’’ and the ‘’power of questions’’ proved to be very inspiring.

Barriers That I Encountered

Sometimes, there was no one present, when I went to play soccer.

Once I forgot my identification and was too lazy to run home and get it.

Once, the gym was closed. I had family problems which kept me from

succeeding week 2. I had a funeral to attend, which kept me from

succeeding week 3.

Results: Activities Performed per Week. Week 1: Lifting, Yoga, Lifting, Lifting, Jogging Week 2: Yoga, Lifting, Lifting Week 3: Yoga, Soccer, Lifting, Yoga Week 4: Soccer, Yoga, Yoga Week 5: Soccer, Soccer, Yoga, Yoga, Abdominals Week 6: Jogging, Yoga, Lifting, Lifting Week 7: Lifting, Yoga, Lifting, Yoga, Yoga, Lifting Week 8: Lifting, Lifting, Yoga, Lifting

Analysis:

Success: weeks 1, 5, 7 Failure: weeks 2, 3, 4, 6, 8

Weeks 2 and 3 were failures because of family issues.

Week 4 was a failure because my friends stopped playing soccer for two weeks, which is something I overcame week 5 with the help and motivation of my best friend.

Positive Results

I did a lot of research the first 5 weeks. Week 6, I started an organized 3-day/week lifting program. I have succeeded in maintaining this program, and hope to build onto this success.

I have become much more flexible from my yoga workouts, which has helped alleviate chronic back and neck pain.

I have started to gain some cardiovascular conditioning from soccer.

Retrospective Thoughts

Lacking a routine made it hard to continue this SMART goal. Deciding on a weight lifting routine simplified this dilemma in week 6.

Recording my progress has definitely given me motivation to continue this goal. Just being able to look back at how poorly I did is motivating. I plan to restart this goal with my newfound lifting routine and scheduled soccer/yoga sessions.

I discovered that regularly communicating with my highly motivated friend, who works out every day, proved to be an unexpected strong reinforcing factor.

I observed that I only worked out on two weekends. These two weeks made up 2/3 of my success. Clearly, If I want to succeed, I need to workout on weekends.

Conclusion: Failure or Success? Failure: I failed to achieve this SMART goal,

by not completing the minimum required number of workouts per week, only succeeding three weeks.

Success: I succeeded in establishing a weight-lifting routine and hopefully a workout habit.

Success: I feel much stronger and fitter than when I started. I can now use what I learned to improve my next eight weeks of training.

Personal Response

I feel that even though I failed 5 out of 8 weeks, I have built a strong habit, and have grown accustomed to my new environment. I believe that when I record my progress over the next 8 weeks, I will succeed more than 3 weeks, if not all. I am glad that I was presented with this opportunity to record my own actions, from which to study and hope to build a strong commitment to fitness with the new skills I have learned.