Specifics

I was just reading a post about exercise over at Ririan Project, a site hard to pass up for list-lovers, when a familiar lesson appeared:

1. What is your Goal?

Amazingly, the average person never makes it successfully past this point because they think that they just want to “lose weight” or “be more healthy”. As with every other goal in your life, getting very specific is the necessary first step.

...by getting specific with your goal, you will give yourself a measurable target to aim for, which will help you immensely when it comes to staying focused.

With exercise, I go through phases in which I do and then I don't. I'd be hard pressed to describe a single, specific goal I've ever had for exercise. No wonder I always lose motivation; I've always hated tasks that I regard as maintenance. Without specificity, there's no way to measure accomplishment, nothing I can check off. If not for some old injuries, I'm sure I wouldn't even do the minimal stretching I do most every day.

I want to be stronger, my thighs to be slimmer like they used to be, my stomach to be a bit flatter, more endurance. I want my knees and shoulders to be more reliable/stronger- less the isolated joints of old injuries and more integrated with the rest of my body. Now I just have to figure out how to quantify these desires.

Then maybe I can incorporate some fucking goals into the rest of my life.

In the meantime, time to get back to playing DDR after a 4 week hiatus (Lego Star Wars 2- you slippery slope!).

Technorati tags: goal-setting, goals, exercise, DDR, Lego Star Wars 2