Goal Setting and Metrics: A Practical Approach to Self-Improvement
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Chapter 1: Understanding Your Starting Point
When embarking on any new venture, it’s crucial to envision your desired outcome. As discussed previously, crafting a detailed narrative of your endpoint can effectively align your mindset toward the future and clarify your vision.
The same principle applies to assessing your current situation. Take the time to articulate where you are in detail; this will aid in recognizing the aspects you wish to change.
A common pitfall is the tendency to use emotional or absolute language to depict our current and future selves. For instance, describing my health could be framed as, “I am out of shape, sluggish, and lacking physical strength.”
While this may be accurate, it fails to capture the deeper feelings of disappointment in not being a positive role model for my children and the discomfort of often feeling like the heaviest person in any gathering.
If you find yourself unable to accept your current state and feel deserving of love and respect, it may be best to pause and address those feelings first. It’s been a long journey for me to recognize my worthiness of love from my family, and I still grapple with it at times. However, I’ve realized that avoiding work on my physical self due to mental uncertainty can lead to more harm than good.
If you’re ready to take the next step, let’s move forward.
Turning Aspirations into Quantifiable Goals
While emotions can be a powerful source of motivation, they are not effective for goal management. For that purpose, numbers are essential. Returning to my vision for my future health, I see myself as strong and resilient, brimming with energy to tackle any challenge. I can lift heavy items, climb trees, run alongside my children, and sweep my partner off their feet. My heart functions smoothly, my lungs are efficient, and my skin radiates health from proper nutrition.
If I were to achieve all these general goals, I would likely be quite healthy. However, these aspirations are interconnected and numerous.
Health is a multifaceted topic, particularly when focusing on physical well-being. The Determinants of Health is a framework that outlines various categories contributing to “healthy living,” including factors like access to health insurance, environmental quality, and overall life satisfaction.
Even within the realm of physical health—which represents only 22% of overall health—there are three primary subcategories, each with multiple metrics and variants for assessment.
For instance, one subcategory is Body Function, which encompasses eight different measures, one of which is Strength and Robustness, with various metrics to evaluate strength.
So, how do I determine the best metric for my goals?
Prioritizing Your Objectives
To begin, your goals should be things you can control. In terms of physical health, controllable factors include your diet, workout routine, and how you prioritize your schedule. On the other hand, elements beyond your control include genetics and the approval or disapproval of others.
Referring back to my envisioned future, let’s break down my physical health goals:
- Strong: strength
- Energetic: healthy mitochondria
- Ability to lift heavy objects: strength
- Tree climbing: flexibility and range of motion
- Running with my kids: endurance
- Sweeping my partner off her feet: strength
- Healthy heart: strength and endurance
- Efficient lungs: VO2 max
- Good skin: nutrition
- Solid core: strength and capacity
When establishing a goal, you can only focus on one priority per category. In the realm of physical health, one cannot simultaneously aim to run a marathon and become a powerlifter. In essence, you cannot strive to be extremely strong and extremely lean at the same time; one must take precedence.
Given my list, strength should be my primary focus. This also aligns well, as strength training will enhance all the other goals on my list.
Choosing Your Goal Metrics
Now that you’ve identified your priority, you can select a few metrics to serve as goals. In my case, I’m concentrating on compound barbell exercises (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press), so I’ll set target weights as my objectives.
For the Starting Strength program, here’s a list of common long-term goals:
- Squat: 2.5 times body weight
- Deadlift: 3 times body weight
- Bench Press: 1.5 times body weight
- Overhead Press: 1 time body weight
This article provides an excellent outline for planning these goals over a few years, as it typically takes time to reach these levels.
While my current weight of 360 pounds might not provide a realistic target, I can aim for a compromise weight of 250 pounds, resulting in the following goals:
- Squat: 625 pounds
- Deadlift: 750 pounds
- Bench Press: 375 pounds
- Overhead Press: 250 pounds
These are ambitious targets, but as the saying goes, “That’s why I want to pursue them.”
Key Takeaways
Self-improvement is often more challenging than anticipated, and having vague goals can exacerbate these difficulties. When motivated, it’s easy to leap forward without a clear plan, which can lead to setbacks and frustration.
Take the time to genuinely evaluate where you stand, where you wish to go, and how to track your progress. Always measure your advancements against your past self.
Ultimately, it’s you versus you, and that’s what truly matters.
This first video, "How to Create Metrics that Matter and the 3 Most Important Areas to Track," delves into establishing relevant metrics for effective goal setting.
The second video, "How to Pick Key Metrics for Small Business," provides insights into selecting key performance indicators tailored for small enterprises.