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There are countless ways that people use to help themselves maintain levels of motivation to achieve their fitness goals. Some of these include peer-to-peer motivation, tracking their progress through apps on their mobile devices, and many others.
Everyone at some point in their life has moments of lack of motivation towards their goals, whether fitness or life in general. What do you do when you're losing sight of your goals?
1. Goal setting.
Goal setting is one of the best ways to lead yourself to success. When motivation is lacking, you have to remind yourself of the goals you have set in place to eventually regain that motivation and have discipline.
One of the best ways to set up goals for yourself is to have one long-term goal with many different short-term goals in between. The long-term goal is there to remind you of what you are progressing towards, while the short-term goals are there to guide you in the right direction. For example, people who regularly go to the gym tend to keep track of their workout (reps, sets, weight, etc.) to come to a common goal of becoming stronger. This is made easy with fitness apps such as Redprint and Strength Log.
Goal setting is here to keep yourself on track towards your end goal. Setting goals is not just saying you're going to do something, it's a commitment to yourself that you can and you will achieve something. By the end, you will have completed a lot of short-term goals which lead to your long-term goal.
2. Progress tracking
Progress tracking in fitness can be as simple as writing down your workouts with sets, reps, and weight. Or it can be as simple as keeping track of the numbers on a scale. Either way, keeping track of your progress is important to helping you stay motivated and on track.
Without tracking your progress you could feel like you’ve been stuck in the same place for weeks or even months. No matter how much time or effort you put in, if you are not tracking your progress you can run into moments where you feel like you haven’t moved from the starting point.
Progress tracking goes hand in hand with goal setting. Tracking your progress allows you to see where you started and how far you’ve come when trying to reach certain goals. Think of your short-term goals as stepping stones to a much larger success.
Redprint Progress Tracking Feature Overview
3. How these ideas can benefit you
All in all the benefits of goals and progress tracking can be applied for almost any situation in your life. The idea of trying to complete something without setting goals can leave you feeling without a sense of what you're trying to accomplish.
Many gym owners and personal trainers use short-term goals and long-term goals to help keep their clients on track. For example, trainers will keep track of the progress of their clients and set shorter goals for them to reach to ultimately help them climb to the larger goal. By doing this it allows for the client to have a sense of accomplishment and see how far they have come.
Being able to physically see, whether pictures or notes documenting how far you’ve come, gives you this sense of motivation which will drive you to complete your larger goal.
4. Final thoughts
No matter how big or small your goals are, they are there to give you motivation and not leave you feeling discouraged because you are not quite at your goal yet.
There are so many implications where goals and tracking can make your life that much more simple. If you're feeling overwhelmed and struggling to complete tasks, set goals for yourself to help you stay on track and keep moving forward.
With gyms being so popular in today's age, trainers and gym owners need to communicate goals with their clients as it may leave them with a sense of doubt. Creating S.M.A.R.T. goals and implementing a way for clients to gain a sense of how to accomplish them will keep their clients motivated and ultimately, more satisfied with their fitness journey.
Breaking down your goals into smaller parts will help you maintain levels of motivation when they seem low and allow you to progress toward the larger goals. Rome was not built overnight; the important things will take time to build and will be worth it when you can look back at all the effort and time you put in to make your dreams happen.