Don't be stupid, be SMART
Xendurance sent this email to their subscribers on October 18, 2022.
Hi xendurance,
I hope the start of your week has been good; It’s about to get even better! This week is about setting SMART goal. It’s really simple stuff but so often overlooked that we felt it worth to bring up this week. Our famous energy deal is still on our website: get a free box on orders over £/€60. Check it out here...
I am sure you’ve all heard that goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) and have probably applied this in your line of work. However we easily forget this when setting goals for our sporting life. We can often be widely optimistic and then feel disappointment of not being able to attain our goal. If we had been a little better at setting smaller, more achievable goals, we would get that buzz of achievement more often. If a goal is too big, we can lose our sense of direction and it can be demotivating especially when you can not see how you are going to achieve it. Similarly if an objective is too easy it won’t be as motivating. Therefore it is really important that we apply some of the lessons of SMART objectives to our sporting aspirations to ensure we go on to achieve great things.
Objective |
SMART Element |
Comment |
I want to improve |
At what? Making cups of tea? |
|
I want to improve at cycling |
Relevant |
Now relevant to a sport but still ambiguous, is it speed, hill climbs or endurance you want to improve? |
I want to improve my cycling threshold speed |
Specific, Relevant |
Getting more detailed now but no way to measure the improvement |
I want to improve my 10mile TT time |
Specific, Relevant and Measurable |
This is now measurable as we have a set distance to gauge improvement but could be better - how do we know when it has been achieved? |
I want to set a 25minute or less 10mile TT Time |
Specific, Relevant, Achievable and Measurable |
Assuming you’re not too far off a 25min 10mile TT this is certainly now achievable, it may not be if you’ve never ridden a bike before though |
I want to set a 25minute or less 10 mile TT time by August 2023 |
SMART |
This is a good SMART objective as it is now also time-bound |