Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART

We all know that nothing runs without a plan, and a plan cannot run without having its objectives set.

That applies to any kind of plan, whether we're talking business or personal finances, university degrees or NGO programs, website promotion or weight loss.

Setting objectives and milestones is of crucial importance for any planning activity and is the core of its success, or failure.
Knowing how to set objectives is not exactly rocket science in terms of complexity, but any strategist should know the basic rules of how to formulate and propose objectives. We will see in this article why objectives play such a major role within a company's planning and strategic activities, how they influence all business processes, and we will review some guidelines of setting objectives.

Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART

The Importance of Setting Objectives

One might wonder why we need to establish objectives in the first place, why not let the company or a specific activity just run smoothly into the future and see where it gets. That would be the case only if we really do not care whether the activity in discussion will be successful or not: but then, to use a popular saying, "if something deserves to be performed, then it deserves to be performed well". In other words, if we don't care for the results, we should not proceed with the action at all.

Setting objectives before taking any action is the only right thing to do, for several reasons:

- it gives a target to aim to, therefore all actions and efforts will be focused on attaining the objective instead of being inefficiently used;

- gives participants a sense of direction, a glimpse of where they're going to;

- motivates the leaders and their teams, since it is quite the custom of establishing some sort of reward once the team successfully completed a project;

- offers the support in evaluating the success of an action or project.

The 5 Rules of Setting Objectives: Be SMART!

I am sure most managers and leaders know what SMART stands for, well, at least when it comes of establishing objectives. However, I have seen some of them who cannot fully explain the five characteristics of a good-established objective - things are somehow blurry and confused in their minds. Since they can't explain in details what SMART objectives really are, it is highly doubtful that they will always be able to formulate such objectives.

It is still unclear from where the confusion comes: perhaps there are too many sources of information, each of them with a slightly different approach upon what a SMART objective really is; or perhaps most people only briefly "heard" about it and they never get to reach the substance behind the packaging.

Either way, let us try to uncover the meaning of the SMART acronym and see how we can formulate efficient objectives.
SMART illustrates the 5 characteristics of an efficient objective; it stands for Specific - Measurable - Attainable - Relevant - Timely.

1. Be SPECIFIC!

When it comes of business planning, "specific" illustrates a situation that is easily identified and understood. It is usually linked to some mathematical determinant that imprints a specific character to a given action: most common determinants are numbers, ratios and fractions, percentages, frequencies. In this case, being "specific" means being "precise".

Example: when you tell your team "I need this report in several copies", you did not provide the team with a specific instruction. It is unclear what the determinant "several" means: for some it can be three, for some can be a hundred. A much better instruction would sound like "I need this report in 5 copies" - your team will know exactly what you expect and will have less chances to fail in delivering the desired result.

2. Be MEASURABLE!

When we say that an objective, a goal, must be measurable, we mean there is a stringent need to have the possibility to measure, to track the action(s) associated with the given objective.

We must set up a distinct system or establish clear procedures of how the actions will be monitored, measured and recorded. If an objective and the actions pertaining to it cannot be quantified, it is most likely that the objective is wrongly formulated and we should reconsider it.

Example: "our business must grow" is an obscure, non-measurable objective. What exactly should we measure in order to find out if the objective was met? But if we change it to "our business must grow in sales volume with 20%", we've got one measurable objective: the measure being the percentage sales rise from present moment to the given moment in the future. We can calculate this very easy, based on the recorded sales figures.

3. Be ATTAINABLE!

Some use the term "achievable" instead of "attainable", which you will see it is merely a synonym and we should not get stuck in analyzing which one is correct. Both are.

It is understood that each leader will want his company / unit to give outstanding performances; this is the spirit of competition and such thinking is much needed. However, when setting objectives, one should deeply analyze first the factors determining the success or failure of these objectives. Think of your team, of your capacities, of motivation: are they sufficient in order for the objectives to be met? Do you have the means and capabilities to achieve them?

Think it through and be honest and realistic to yourself: are you really capable of attaining the goals you've set or are you most likely headed to disappointment? Always set objectives that have a fair chance to be met: of course, they don't need to be "easily" attained, you're entitled to set difficult ones as long as they're realistic and not futile.

Example: you own a newborn movers company and you set the objective of "becoming no. 1 movers within the state". The problem is you only have 3 trucks available, while all your competitors have 10 and up. Your goal is not attainable; try instead a more realistic one, such as "reaching the Top 5 fastest growing movers company in the state".

4. Be RELEVANT!

This notion is a little more difficult to be perceived in its full meaning; therefore we will start explaining it by using an example in the first place.

Imagine yourself going to the IT department and telling them they need to increase the profit to revenue ratio by 5%. They will probably look at you in astonishment and mumble something undistinguished about managers and the way they mess up with people's minds.

Can you tell what is wrong with the objective above? Of course! The IT department has no idea what you were talking about and there's nothing they can do about it - their job is to develop and maintain your computerized infrastructure, not to understand your economic speech. What you can do it setting an objective that the IT department can have an impact upon, and which will eventually lead to the increase you wanted in the first place. What about asking them to reduce expenditures for hardware and software by 10% monthly and be more cautious with the consumables within their department by not exceeding the allocated budget? They will surely understand what they need to do because the objective is relevant for their group.

Therefore, the quality of an objective to be "relevant" refers to setting appropriate objectives for a given individual or team: you need to think if they can truly do something about it or is it irrelevant for the job they perform.

5. Be TIMELY!

No much to discuss about this aspect, since it is probably the easiest to be understood and applied.

Any usable and performable objective must have a clear timeframe of when it should start and/or when it should end. Without having a timeframe specified, it is practically impossible to say if the objective is met or not.

For example, if you just say "we need to raise profit by 500000 units", you will never be able to tell if the objective was achieved or not, one can always say "well, we'll do it next year". Instead, if you say "we need to raise profit by 500000 units within 6 months from now", anyone can see in 6 months if the goal was attained or not. Without a clear, distinct timeframe, no objective is any good.

Rules to Setting Business Goals and Objectives: Why and How to be SMART
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Otilia is a young certified professional with expertise in eMarketing and eBusiness, currently working as independent consultant and ePublisher. She developed and teach her own online course in "Principles of eMarketing" and is also a volunteer Economics teacher. You can contact her via her Marketing resources portal at TeaWithEdge.com

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S.M.A.R.T. Goals

(excerpted from the Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan)

Jim Rohn's Second Pillar of Success: Goal-Setting, Part Three - S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Hi, Jim Rohn here. As you know, we are focused on the Second Pillar of Success this month - Goal-Setting.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

We have introduced the four main components of Goal-Setting:

1. Evaluation and Reflection.

The only way we can reasonably decide what we want in the future and how we will get there, is to first know where we are right now and secondly, what our level of satisfaction is for where we are in life. As we focus this month on goal-setting, our first order of business and our topic two weeks ago was evaluation and reflection.

2. Dreams and Goals.

What are your dreams and goals? Not related to the past or what you think you can get, but what you want. Have you ever really sat down and thought through your life values and decided what you really want? This isn't something that someone else says you should have or what culture tells us successful people do or have. These are the dreams and goals that are born out of your own heart and mind. These are the goals that are unique to you and come from who you were created to be and gifted to become. Last week we showed you exactly how to find out what you want from life.

3. S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

Specific: Don't be vague. Exactly what do you want?

Measurable: Quantify your goal. How will you know if you've achieved it or not?

Attainable: Be honest with yourself about what you can reasonably accomplish at this point in your life - along with taking into consideration your current responsibilities.

Realistic: It's got to be do-able, real and practical.

Time: Associate a timeframe with each goal. When should you complete the goal?

We will spend time this week looking at how to apply the S.M.A.R.T. test to your goals to make sure they are as powerful as they can be!

4. Accountability.

Think of the word "accountable." It means to "give an account." When someone knows what your goals are, they help hold you accountable. Whether it is someone else going through this program with you (have you thought about inviting a friend to join you on this one-year journey?) or just someone you can give the basic idea to, having a person who can hold you accountable will give you another added boost to getting your goals! Next week we will show you how to set up an accountability partner.

This week we will be discussing point 3 - S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

I really like this acronym S.M.A.R.T., because we want to be smart when we set our goals. We want to intelligently decide what our goals will be so that we can actually accomplish them. We want to set the goals that our heart conceives, that our mind believes and that our bodies will carry out. Let's take a closer look at each of the components of S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Specific: Goals are no place to waffle. They are no place to be vague. Ambiguous goals produce ambiguous results. Incomplete goals produce incomplete futures.

When we are specific, we harness the power of our dreams and set forces into action that empower us to achieve our goals. We then know exactly what it is we are shooting for. There is no question. As we establish our priorities and manage our time, we do so for a specific goal to achieve the results we expect. There is no wondering or guessing. The future is locked into our minds and we see it - specifically - and that is powerful! Never underestimate just how important it is to have very specific, concrete goals. They act as magnets that draw you toward them! A S.M.A.R.T. goal is specific.

Measurable: Always set goals that are measurable. I would say "specifically measurable" to take into account our principle of being specific as well. Our goals should be such that we know when we are advancing and by how much. Whether it is by hours, pounds, dollars or whatever, we should be able to see exactly how we are measuring up as we proceed through the journey of life using our goals. Could you imagine if you didn't measure your goals? You would never know which way you were going or even if you were going anywhere! A S.M.A.R.T. goal is measurable.

Attainable: One of the detrimental things that many people do - and they do it with good intentions - is to set goals that are so high they are unattainable. Yes, it is very important to set big goals that cause your heart to soar with excitement, but it is also imperative to make sure that they are attainable. In the next section we talk about being realistic. So what does it mean to be attainable? An attainable goal is one that is both realistic but also attainable in a shorter period of time than what you have to work with. Now when I say attainable, I don't mean easy. Our goals should be set so they are just out of our reach; so they will challenge us to grow as we reach forward to achieve them. After the next paragraph, I will give you an example of a goal that is both attainable and realistic. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is attainable.

Realistic: The root word of realistic is "real." A goal has to be something that we can reasonably make "real" or a "reality" in our lives. There are some goals that simply are not realistic. You have to be able to say, even if it is a tremendously stretching goal, that yes, indeed, it is entirely realistic -- that you could make it. You may even have to say that it will take x, y, and z to do it, but if those happen, then it can be done. This is in no way to say it shouldn't be a big goal, but it must be realistic. This is to a great degree, up to the individual. For one person a goal may be realistic, but for another unrealistic. I would encourage you to be very honest with yourself as you do your planning and evaluation. Perhaps it would be good to get a friend to help you (as long as that friend is by nature an optimist and not a pessimist). This can go a long way toward helping you know what is realistic. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is realistic.

Example of Attainable and Realistic: Knowing that perhaps you could use a bit of help differentiating attainable and realistic, here is an example: You are overweight and have 150 pounds to lose to get to your proper weight. Is that goal attainable? Yes, considering that you also make it realistic. For example, it isn't realistic to think you can do it in 5 months. 18-24 months would be realistic (with hard work). Thus, losing 150 pounds in 2 years is both attainable and realistic, while losing 150 pounds in 5 months is neither attainable nor realistic.

Time: Every goal should have a timeframe attached to it. I think that life itself is much more productive for us as humans because there is a timeframe connected to it. Could you imagine how much procrastination there would be on earth if people never died? We would never get "around to it." We could always put it off. One of the powerful aspects of a great goal is that it has an end, a time in which you are shooting to accomplish it. You start working on it because you know there is an end. As time goes by you work because you don't want to get behind. As it approaches, you work diligently because you want to meet the deadline. You may even have to break down a big goal into different measured parts time frames. That is okay. Set smaller goals and work them out in their own time. A S.M.A.R.T. goal has a timeline.

Be sure to spend some reflection time this week to make sure your goals fit the S.M.A.R.T. parameters. Go through the reflection questions below and the action points associated with them. Doing so will put a real engine in your goals and make them charged with power to help you accomplish your dreams.

Until next week, let's do something remarkable!

Jim Rohn

S.M.A.R.T. Goals
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Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine. Copyright 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved worldwide. To subscribe to Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine, go to [http://Jim-Rohn.InspiresYOU.com]

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Using Goals to Grow in Nursing

Determining where someone would like to be, and how to get there in five to 10 years, takes much conscious effort, however, identifying goals that will help someone grow, whether it be educational, professional or personal is very important. Several steps are involved in order to be successful, such as, defining the goals, determining the optimum time frame and putting the plan into action. Combining personal beliefs and values into defined goals and refusing to turn away from these beliefs during difficult times will lead to feelings of true achievement once the goals are attained. With any serious goal, support systems and mentors must be determined and utilized, to avoid becoming overwhelmed when challenges arise. Chitty and Black (2007) states "Make sure your goals and expectations are realistic. Unrealistic goals are self-defeating. Make sure the goals are measurable, manageable, and meaningful to you, not to please somebody else." (Chapter 10, p. 266).

Nursing philosophy is clearly understanding your personal truths, thoughts and goals and determining how they relate to your professional career as a nurse. Each nurse has unique experiences that influence his or her personal choice of profession, but in general, nurses are drawn to the profession because of the nurturing characteristics that the profession embraces. My philosophy of nursing may vary from other nurses depending on their culture, religion or ethnicity, but the combination of the diversities makes nursing special. In my personal view, the nursing profession is a highly respectable profession, which should always place the holistic care and concern of the patient as the top priority. Continuing education is mandatory for nurses to be able to provide high quality of care and to provide the latest improved treatment techniques. Whether through treating, teaching, advocating or supporting, patient care is directly impacted through nursing care on a daily basis. Nurses also must accept the responsibility of leading others in the care of patients in order to maintain a high quality continuity of care.

Baccalaureate prepared nurses are better prepared to accept positions that require more leadership skills. Obtaining the Baccalaureate degree also shows commitment to the profession, which shows strength to the employer. As stated by Cynthia O'Neal (2004), "In today's health care environment, baccalaureate nurses must be prepared to use essential leadership skills to manage and coordinate teams of care." The increased amount of training that is focused on nursing ethics, nursing foundations and history, and nursing professionalism promotes the knowledge to organize the responsibilities of several team members successfully, without appearing overbearing. Providing this leadership may not be overly accepted by everyone on the team, and may in turn cause temporary conflict, however, in order for the team to function in an efficient and organized manner, and provide the practice with a productive department, and the patient with high quality of care, this is a change that must take place.

Using Goals to Grow in Nursing

With any growth, there will be challenges and barriers. Choosing strong mentors is a very important step in reaching goals. Victor Ghebre (Dec, 2008), instructs us to "find a mentor or someone who can inspire you in the area of personal development, and try to associate yourself with other people who are on the path to self growth." During the education experience, academic advisors or facilitators are wonderful mentors, and during the professional career experience, introducing yourself to staff development coordinators, physicians and management staff can facilitate introductions to such mentors. Having a strong support system within the personal relationships of our daily lives is also important. With growth, growing pains will happen, and having support during difficult times will encourage the growth to continue. Having a healthy expectation of the challenges that may be present and a plan of action will lessen the effect when these challenges occur. Family, and the responsibilities that family involves, is a large challenge to overcome when attempting to grow in a professional aspect. Learning to meet these responsibilities satisfactorily, while working toward professional goals is possible.

Identifying goals and becoming committed to achieving these goals lead to life changing events, bringing satisfaction and personal fulfillment. People are surrounded by goals from birth, learning to walk and talk, to planning for life after retirement or even death. Continually setting new goals and attempting to achieve them is what prevents complacence. For some, complacence may be the goal, but for others, setting new goals is a means of growth, and growth is necessary in embracing life. Goals do not have to be anything as important as a new profession. Goals can be as simple as deciding to start walking daily, and planning where to walk, or making a goal to learn to sew. Making realistic goals and attempting to attain these goals while abiding within certain beliefs and values introduces several areas that continue to add value to life, such as special friends, strong support systems and learning to overcome challenges. Goals are an important part in life in that it promotes growth, and combining professional goals with personal goals can create holistic peace within self and family.

References:

Chitty, K. K., Black, B. P. (2007). Professional nursing concepts and challenges. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. St. Louis, MO: Saunders, Inc. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, NUR391- Professional Nursing Practice website.

Ghebre, Victor (December 1, 2008) How to obtain important life goals to help you grow. Retrieved March 17, 2009 from http://www.articlesbase.com/goal-setting-articles/how-to-obtain-important-life-goals-to-help-you-grow-666497.html,  

O'Neal, Cynthia.  (November 2004). Creating Leadership Skills in Fundamental Courses. Journal of Nursing Education 43(11), 524.  Retrieved March 19, 2009, from Career and Technical Education database. (Document ID: 739662121).

Using Goals to Grow in Nursing
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Gail Scarlett is a Registered Nurse and an aspiring college student in the process of obtaining her Masters in Nursing, Nurse Practitioner degree. She has worked as a nurse for 14 years, working mostly with Oncology patients. Her goal is to have a private practice, offering care to family medicine patient as well as oncology patients.

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Business Planning - Short Term, Medium Term and Long Term Goals

As the owner or executive of a business, you have business goals. You have your 5-year goals or your long-term goals, and then there are steps along the way to reach those goals: medium-term goals and short-term goals.

If you were a retailer you might have the following goals:

Short term: sell a certain amount each sunny day, a certain amount each rainy day, a certain amount each holiday, weekend and weekday.

Business Planning - Short Term, Medium Term and Long Term Goals

Medium term: Identify your best suppliers. Establish relationships with the most efficient, timely, reliable and innovative suppliers. Attract a higher number of baby boomers than your competition.

Long term: Continue to create innovations in the marketplace that can set you apart from your competition, such as innovative loyalty programs or bleeding edge point-of-purchase technology.

In business planning and business performance management, key performance indicators (KPIs) are fundamental to knowing where you are in your path towards a certain goal.

This is what Wikipedia says about KPIs:

A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure of performance. Such measures are commonly used to help an organization define and evaluate how successful it is, typically in terms of making progress towards its long-term organizational goals. KPIs can be specified by answering the question, "What is really important to different stakeholders?"

Wikipedia mentions long-term, but that misses out on important short-term and medium-term goals which I'll explain shortly. The other key term here is "stakeholders."

Each goal, whether short-term or long-term, has different stakeholders.

If you have daily retail sales goals, then a store manager has to have access to data that shows him or her in real time what's going on in the store.

If you have quarterly or yearly goals vis-a-vís your suppliers and different customer segments, then an operations person or sales director needs access to information that shows how you're doing along these paths.

If you have long-term plans to create innovative solutions and become a market leader, then the CEO or owner needs access to key data to know how you're doing against these plans.

Different time-frames, different stakeholders, different goals, different KPIs.

What tools are available to help you along the path?

David Abdo wrote a post entitled "Business Intelligence Software: Who Is It Really For?" where he argued for the democratization of business intelligence software across the enterprise.

The existence of a multi-tiered goal structure as illustrated above implies the requirement of a company to implement a business intelligence tool that's accessible to all people within the company.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Business Planning - Short Term, Medium Term and Long Term Goals
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For more information on how to implement a business intelligence tool to navigate your way towards your goals, click here to sign up for a free webinar!

Fernando Labastida is a communications specialist for KPI Online [http://kpionline.bitam.com]. He blogs about how small and medium sized business can improve performance with Business Intelligence software.

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Some Employee Goal Examples

Here are some employee goal examples that will help you to increase the efficiency in your work place. Your employees could set goals like these:

"I will increase my sales by 15% by the end of the quarter"

"I will assemble a team of 4 people and we will complete project X by February"

Some Employee Goal Examples

"I will go to a seminar on time management on 20 June"

"I will arrive to work on time every day for the next year"

"I will reduce spending in my department by 10% by the end of the financial year"

What makes these goals effective? They follow the S.M.A.R.T method of goal setting because they are:

Specific
These goals are written clearly and concisely. When you set goals for your employees make sure that they are so clear that it is easy to determine whether or not the goal has been completed.

Measurable
The goals above can easily be measured on a chart. Make sure your employees measure their progress towards the goal every day or week to motivate them and so that you can be aware of their progress.

Achievable
This will depend upon the ability of your employee. Set them a goal with about a 70% chance of them completing. The idea is to set a challenging goal for impressive results that isn't so challenging that it deters them from making progress.

Relevant
When you give your employees goals make sure that the results will provide a true benefit to the company. They should address the most pressing issues your company faces or take advantage of the most lucrative opportunities.

Time-bound
This is a must. Always put a deadline on your employees' goals so they are motivated to keep working towards achieving it.

Some Employee Goal Examples
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By the way... do you like cool tips for goal setting and productivity?

Get your fix at http://www.DailyInch.net

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New Teachers - You Need Long Term Lesson Plan Goals - A New Teacher's Lesson Planning Checklist

New teachers often put in 12-16 hour days during their first year of teaching. This daily routine can be incredibly stressful during the first year.

Since so much of lesson planning depends on what happened during the previous lessons, it's difficult to plan a lesson too much in advance. But there are long and short term strategies that new teachers can easily use to help them cope in their first year before teaching takes over their lives.

Lesson Planning - Long Term Strategies

New Teachers - You Need Long Term Lesson Plan Goals - A New Teacher's Lesson Planning Checklist

Long term strategies are those lesson decisions that relate to academic goals. For example, where does the teacher want his/her students to be in a month's time? Two months time? Using the curriculum and the textbook are excellent starting points for helping to raise the standards and close the gaps of students' knowledge. Again, it also important to plan the week's lesson around what students can actually do keeping the long term target in mind.

Long term strategies also relate to educational decisions. Perhaps, new teachers may want to train his/her students to work more cooperatively. Over time, he or she may start to feel more comfortable implementing pair or group work to help foster certain educational values such as tolerance and accepting differences.

Other Long Term Decisions

Take time at the end of the week or month, to catch up on "where you are" with regard to long term lesson planning decisions. What supplementary material should you add?

If there is no book, what material should you teach? (4th grade, special education) How should you divide material between semesters? How should you deal with specific areas such as extensive reading?

Consult frequently a mentor or work with a teacher who teaches similar classes. You'll be glad you did!

New Teachers - You Need Long Term Lesson Plan Goals - A New Teacher's Lesson Planning Checklist
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To receive your free ebook, Taking Charge in the Classroom and other information for new teachers, visit the New Teacher Resource Center at http://www.newteacherresourcecenter.com

Dorit Sasson is a freelance writer, educator and founder and director of the New Teacher Resource Center.

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Fitness: Goal Setting

When you start a home fitness plan you need to set some goals. Without any goal setting you will not accomplish your fitness goals.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Why are you starting your exercise program? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to increase your strength? Do you want to lower something like your cholesterol? You have to pick something you can measure.

Fitness: Goal Setting

Picking a goal of to feel healthy is not something you can measure. It is abstract and only you can decide if you accomplished that type of fitness goal.

A measured goal is better. A good one is how quickly can you run a mile? If initially it takes you 10 minutes to run 1 mile then you can set a goal to run 1 mile in 9 minutes. Running a mile in a certain time is an excellent type of goal.

Cannot Be Too Easy

Anytime you set a goal it must be challenging and push you. At the same time the goal setting has to be realistic. As in the previous example if you currently run 1 mile in 10 minutes setting a goal to run 1 mile in 5 minutes in the next month is not realistic. If you decided to set the time-frame to be in the next 6 months to run a 5-minute mile then you may accomplish that goal.

Fitness goals need to be a progression of getting better and better.

Let's keep using the fitness goal of running 1 mile in 5 minutes, but you currently at 10 minutes. Your next time should be to run 1 mile in 9 minutes. You cannot expect to your body to run fast just because you said you want to run that time.

Here is a Good Fitness Plan

You need to run or train daily. You have to train your heart and body to get used to running. If it has been years since you engaged in this type of exercise you may want to only run a quarter mile and the walk the next quarter mile. For the day this may be all you do.

Each day you need to run a little further and a little longer. At the end of the week or the beginning of the week go run a mile and see how quickly you can run a mile. The time should be decreasing with your increased time exercising.

Staying on your fitness plan will be the hardest part of goal setting. You need to continue to workout to accomplish running the 9-minute mile. Once you conquer this time you need to look at running an 8-minute mile.

Keep Getting Better and Better Everyday

The steadily improving time will help keep you on your fitness plan and accomplish your goal.

Now I used running as the exercise to measure your success. However, you can use any type of fitness goal such as weight loss or waist size to see how you are progressing.

I like using some type of exercise program because it can help accomplish two or more goals in one. Remember running a certain time will also potentially lower my cholesterol and lower my weight. I am sort of multi-tasking my goals of running faster, losing weight and lowering my cholesterol all in one exercise: running.

You can do the same with other fitness plans. Get creative and have fun goal setting with your fitness plan.

Fitness: Goal Setting
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