Setting SMART Goals for 2025

The new year is approaching gang! For every new year, this is the perfect time to set new goals that not only sets you apart from who you are today but what you will transform into with the upcoming year. But the question that comes up is this; how do you ensure you’ll stick to them past January 31st? The answer: SMART goals! These are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals that you can set that will keep the momentum going.

Let’s dive into how you can use this method to evolve yourself in this new year.

SMART Goal Framework

Specific This means being crystal clear of what you want to achieve. For example, instead of "My goal is to start running", I'd recommend "My goal is to start running 3 days per week for 2 miles each run throughout all of January."
Measurable Setting a criteria helps you track your progress. The numbers make a difference. For example, to improve in building strength & endurance in the gym, you would want to formulate it as; "I want to be able to bench press 135 pounds for 10 repetitions by March."
Achievable Make goals challenging but to the point where you are capable of succeeding. For example, if you know you're trying to eat more nutrient dense meals, going cold turkey and cutting your go-to pleasure foods completely will be a lot more difficult than to gradually taper off from them. This will, in turn, make you relapse.
Relevant Align your goals with your values & long-term vision. For example, if you're a dancer, I'd recommend to incorporate a little bit of everything; flexibility training, mobility training, strength & conditioning, & cardio into your training routine so that it helps enhance your overall dance performance. If you don't know what you're doing, ask a trusted professional to help you in giving you structured program. *wink wink*
Time-bound Make a deadline to hold yourself accountable. For example, if you plan to run your first 5K run, mark a specific date that you will run it by so that you have more of a reason to train for it. With no deadline, you're going to be training with no finish line.

Shifting Plans into Action

So now since you have the framework down, let's make these plans into actionable steps.

First thing is to,

Grab a notebook/journal.
Write down your ultimate goal or long-term goal that you want to achieve.
Break it down into small, manageable steps.
Review where you're at on reaching to your ultimate goal on a regular basis.

Here's an example of a SMART Goal that I've been working on;

The ultimate goal is to be able to be able to run a half marathon (i.e.,13.12 miles;) in less than 1 hour and 47 minutes & 12 seconds by February 2nd (Measurable). I've recently signed up for the Surf City Half on February 2nd (Time-bound). To train to beat my previous time, my plan is to run 4 times per week from October until February 2nd. Each run will vary from 2 recovery runs, 1 speed run, and 1 long run (Specific & Relevant). This training will be on top of training clients, running a business, and up-keeping my personal life which will be a challenge. However, I've done the LBC Half recently in October '24 so that it can be done since I was capable of doing it in the past (Achievable).

TREAT YO SELF

With Small Rewards

Give yourself a small reward after each milestone you reach! The ultimate reward doesn't have to be the ONLY reward you get to receive. The ideal move is to give yourself the credit when breaking a personal record along the way. Condition yourself with a small treat and that ultimate reward will just be icing on the cake.

Small treats can include a recovery day at the spa, spending an hour watching Netflix, etc. Think anything that you like but small doses of it!

Levels Training Updates

If you haven't read my previous newsletter, I recently announced that for this upcoming new year, I'll be starting a subscription plan for athletes like you to follow that give will give you guidance & structure in your workout plan. To add, this also gives you a little taste of what training is like under me!

Here is what Levels: NEXT STEP 2025 will offer:

BASIC PLAN
- Exclusive access to TrueCoach to be able to track your workouts, nutrition & more
- Instructional videos and detailed descriptions on how to perform each exercise
- MyFitnessPal integration for tracking your nutrition
- Weekly check ins via TrueCoach messages to see your performance
PREMIUM PLAN
- All of 'BASIC PLAN' perks included
- (2) 30-minute virtual meeting per month for any training related questions needed to be addressed based off the program
ANNUAL PLAN
- All of 'PREMIUM PLAN' perks
- An additional $200 off; $840 - $200 = $640 annually ($200 savings