S.H.I.N.E. Goals: The Shine Method of Thinking

S.H.I.N.E. Goals

Well we planned to have an awesome video for you today, but let’s just say Ashley’s air conditioning broke and it’s over 100 degrees in Arizona…so it didn’t happen.

Instead, today is all about goals.  The base of every dream, accomplishment, challenge, you name it starts with one simple little goal.

You’ve heard it time and time again, but it is CRUCIAL to set health and fitness goals if there is something you are trying to obtain.  I initially created S.H.I.N.E goals for our Threads employees, but they can easily apply to many different areas of life, including fitness.

About 7 years ago I set a goal to run a half marathon.  I was in high school.  I trained, I worked my butt off and the day before the race I got the stomach flu.  Instead of anxiously waiting at the starting line for the race to start at 6:00am I was laying in my bed puking.  It was what it was, so I signed up for another race the next month.  That race has been my favorite race to run and I look forward to it every year.                                      

7 years ago I set a goal to run a half marathon and this month I set a goal to run my 10^th half marathon.  Every dream starts with a goal, don’t ever give up.

Follow the steps bellow to successfully set goals!

Sensible: The Shine Project is all about dreaming big, but there comes a point when goals must be sensible.  So, what does sensible mean anyways?  A sensible goal is realistic and reasonable.  Working in the fitness industry I have had client after client sit down at their goal setting appointment and say they want to lose X amount of weight in a very short period of time.  Is it possible for that individual to lose that much weight in a short period of time? Probably, but it’s not realistic and it would cause more damage in the end.

Hard: A good goal should be difficult to accomplish.  Push yourself to your limits and you will never fail.  You might not reach every goal, but you will get somewhere close along the way.

Inspiring: You should feel inspired by every single goal you set and your goals should inspire others.  Some goals are more exciting than others, some goals are big and some are small, but you should always feel encouraged to reach your goals.  Think about why they are important to you and how they could inspire other people to be better.

Near:  Can you picture yourself achieving your goals in the near future?  Near might be in 6 months, 1 year, or ten years, but you need to give yourself a sense of urgency in order to work toward accomplishing your goal.  If you always think “someday” it’s never going to happen, give yourself a time frame.

Exact: When setting goals it’s crucial to know exactly what you want and how you are going to get there.  Be specific. Ask yourself who, what, when, where, and why?  Example: I want to lose three pounds in two weeks by exercising three days a week for 45 minutes and cutting out processed food.