Not feeling motivated? Get SMART

Dropout rates in exercise programs are notoriously high, as much as 50 percent, according to some estimates. So what keeps some people pushing onward, long after others have permanently racked the dumbbells? In a word, success.

How many people want to commit to long hours of hard work — in any endeavor — when they do not see any progress as a result of their efforts?

In some instances, it may be the very goals we set for ourselves that undermine our ability to succeed. Perhaps we have reached too far in envisioning what we want to accomplish, or set our sights on something that cannot be measured, making progress seem elusive.

There's a model for setting goals that goes by the acronym SMART. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

Without SMART goals, planning can be difficult, feedback missing, and motivation lacking.

Say I show up at the gym one day, seeking the services of a personal trainer, and I tell her, "My goal is to get really strong." That's more of a nebulous wish than a goal.

It would then be difficult for my trainer to design a program that will keep me engaged, and difficult to determine whether I've succeeded, because I never defined what I meant by strong, and I never set a deadline for accomplishing my goal.

Instead, it would be better to reframe my goal in this way: "I'd like to increase the amount of weight I can bench-press by 5 percent every month until I can bench-press and lift my bodyweight in 12 to 16 months. " I now have a clearly defined and attainable goal whose progress can easily be measured.

Having a defined set of steps to reach your goal can help keep you focused and motivated. It is much easier, for example, to think about losing 2 pounds a week than to think about having to lose 50 pounds.

The SMART principle need not be confined to fitness matters. It can be applied to any goal you might have, whether it's earning a college degree, learning a foreign language, or finding a new job.

So go ahead and "get SMART." If you fall a bit short of your goals, at least you can say, to quote secret agent Maxwell Smart from the old TV show of the same name, "Missed it by that much."

Sometimes you have to move the goalpost

A friend told me the other day that my blog had inspired her to "get real" about the 40 pounds she had promised herself she would lose this year. Now I'm a big fan of anyone who tries to make positive changes in his or her life, but I was concerned that my friend might be setting the bar too high.

Goals are strange creatures. They can be powerful motivators or potential saboteurs. The latter occurs when they're unrealistic.

The world of fitness plans, programs and facilities seems a breeding ground for unrealistic expectations. The cycle plays out annually at gyms everywhere. In January, they're like little cities, bustling with the activity of their enthusiastic inhabitants. By March, they're mere villages, and by April, ghost towns.

I have to believe a big part of the reason for the dropout rate is frustration — the frustration of unmet goals.

Take Mr. Average Guy, who walks into the gym and sees Mr. Personal Trainer, with his massive chest and arms rippling with muscle. Mr. Average Guy thinks, "Yeah, I wanna look like that," and signs up for a membership and some training sessions.

That would be all fine and good, as long as he understood that Mr. Personal Trainer probably spends 12 hours a day at the gym, weighs every ounce of food he eats, and eats on a schedule as precise as a German train. Mr. Average Guy, lacking such single-minded drive, will most likely become frustrated at some point when, despite all of his efforts, he realizes he still looks, by comparison, average.

Or say I wanted to start running, which is unlikely, because I've always detested running, but stranger things have happened. Do you think I'd be more likely to succeed if I plunged right in and started training for a marathon, or by training first for a 5K?

There's no doubt in my mind that my friend could lose those 40 pounds, eventually. But instead of "promising" herself she'd do it this year, why not set an initial goal of 10 to 15 pounds, and when successful, follow it up with a goal of an additional 10 to 15 pounds, and so on?

A series of small goals can get us where we want to go, too. It just might require a little more time and patience, but we're more likely to reach our destination.

You know, I think I've just inspired myself. I'm going to go check out some listings of upcoming 5Ks.