3 Steps To Setting And Achieving Realistic Fitness Business Goals

I'm sure you've heard and read about the importance of goal setting for your business, but there's a little more to it than simply announcing financial or material desires and then crossing our fingers.

For personal trainers looking to build their businesses, everything comes back to your goals. What are you doing this for, why do you get up at 4am every day?

Even if you're in the fitness business for the purest of reasons and that is solely to help people achieve their goals; how many people do you want to help, how much help do you want to give them?

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes." Andrew Carnegie

Goal setting according to Wikipedia:

Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable and time-targeted objectives.

"I want an Audi R8 to drive to my 10 year school reunion in 12 months" is a specific, time-targeted, measurable goal. It's specific because I want the R8, time-targeted to 12 months and measurable because if I achieve it, I will have an Audi R8.

Everybodies goals are different (or maybe I've just given you a new one because the Audi R8 is that awesome) and they do not have to be exciting or meaningful to anyone but yourself.

1. Make your goals specific:

You can't be too specific when setting your goals. There's an expression that suggests that when you want something so bad that you can taste it. That's how specific your goals should be.

I could describe my dream home to you underwater it's so vivid to me.

You should be able to describe every detail of what your goal is. If you don't know what you want, how will you ever be able to achieve or acquire it?

2. Make your goals measurable:

When your goals are measurable, you're able to calculate your progress toward them. Financial goals are a great example of this.

If your goal is to make $100,000 in 12 months, we can say that you will have to make an average of $274.00 a day, 7 days a week for the next 52 weeks. Make a chart, tick boxes, do whatever you have to do to track your progress.

Another way to measure goals that may not have a figure attached to them, such as self improvement type goals; measure the amount of time spent doing activities that will help you achieve those goals. If after a period of time you can see that you've spent 20 hours listening to Spanish lesson CD's, you're that much closer to knowing what the hell Zumba is all about.

3. See yourself achieving your goals:

If a goal is to travel to Egypt; it's easy to picture yourself at the pyramids, but most people don't see themselves going to the travel agent to buy the ticket or applying for a visa or getting any vaccinations.

You have to see the entire picture when you set a goal. If you want $100,000, it's not just seeing yourself on a king size bed rolling around in your underwear covered in hundred dollar bills; how will you make that $274.00 each and every day to get there? See the goal AND the journey and you will be prepared for the best and worst scenarios.

I was looking over my goals for 2010 earlier today and was for the most part happy with how things have gone (I'm my own toughest critic). How did 2010 fair for you? What changes will you be making for 2011?

It would be great to read your comments below and as always, please share this article on facebook and twitter by clicking the icons at the top of the article.

Thanks for reading!

Ben

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