Hey ,

Happy Friday! Do you look forward to weekends? Back in the day when I did the M-F 9-5, I absolutely did, however these days, we define weekend as "a stretch of time greater than 12 hours dedicated to leisure/chores" 😂 The wifey and I are "escaping" to Whistler for approximately 30 hours this weekend sans little one 👶🏼, and will be the first time we're spending this much time without him. We'll see how we handle being away from him for that long 😭

Today's email is about GOALS.

Is Kanye the best? Perhaps. His music? Absolutely some of the best in his prime. As the potential POTUS? Highly debatable! 🤔

I believe there is a pre-requisite to being the best at whichever endeavours you wish to pursue, and that is the ability to set goals, and execute on said goals. Setting them is the easy part - executing the steps to get there is more challenging, but impossible without a solid goal.

A great starting point is the quality of goals that we set. Most of us have heard the term S.M.A.R.T. Goals. This is a great framework to get you started. Without it, it's more difficult to define the steps you will need to take to get there.

What does the acronym stand for? I've seen a few different ones, but this is the version that I like:

S: Specific

M: Measurable

A: Attainable

R: Relevant

T: Time-Bound

I always have conversations around goals with clients and participants of my group fitness classes. Goals range from "I want to be stronger" to "I want to run my first marathon" to "I want to look fly for the ladies" 😁. While all are valid, they're lacking the ingredients we need to start working toward them. We usually have a visual in our head of what we want, but transposing that vision into something tangible is the objective.

Let's use a goal that I hear a lot in these conversations, sprinkle the above ingredients on it, and see where we end up:

"I want to get toned."

I always follow this one with:

In response I usually get a variety of additional details, but I probe a little more and I always strive to put it together in a way that we can really drill down on what their goal really is.

Specific: I want to lose a few inches around my midsection

Measurable: I want to lose 5 inches around my midsection

Attainable: I want to lose 5 inches around my midsection training 3x a week as I'm a busy working mom

Relevant: I want to lose 5 inches around my midsection training 3x a week as I'm a busy working mom so I can wear my bikini

Time-Bound: I want to lose 5 inches around my midsection training 3x a week as I'm a busy working mom so I can wear my bikini by summertime in 2 months.

Here's our shiny new SMART Goal:

"I want to lose 5 inches around my midsection training 3x a week as I'm a busy working mom so I can wear my bikini by summertime in 2 months."

That's a good looking goal, wouldn't you say?

Queen B agrees. So does the Old Spice guy:

So I decided I would go through this exercise with my clients to achieve a short-term, 30-day health and fitness goal. I also thought to incentivize them, that I would run a 30-Day Challenge such that when (not IF, but WHEN) they reach their goal, they get a free week of training, on me. But then I thought, that's awesome, but I want to provide more incentive to celebrate! (I'm a huge proponent of celebrating achievements) And so, everyone who achieves their goal gets entered into a draw to win a $100 gift card to a restaurant of their choice!

So why am I telling YOU this? Because I want you in on it too! Limiting it to my clients seemed a little too exclusive - I am very inclusive in how I operate. So how about it?

Let me tell you why you should jump in on this challenge:

• It's FREE. Everything tastes better when it's free. Even the extra soy sauce they give you when you order sushi 🍣 take-out.
• It's a great way to jump-start your fitness routine especially after all the gyms/studios you normally go to were closed in light of the pandemic
• When you do it with friends, you have some people to motivate you to push harder.
• A little healthy competition with your friends...and even yourself!
• It's only 30 days! But you'd be surprised at what you can accomplish in 30 days!

Just to show you what can be done, here's an example of progress I made in 30 days:

No special equipment, magic supplements, or photoshop (maybe some really ideal down-lighting in the bathroom though 😂) Just a SMART GOAL, the steps to get there, and the COMMITMENT to achieve my goal.

So are you in? Now that you know how to set a goal, there's no reason why you can't join in. There is literally nothing to lose.

Okay awesome. You're in! What do you need to do? Watch my Instagram post talking about the details, and most importantly, comment in the post what your goal is in those 30 Days.

The Challenge starts on Monday, August 17, so make sure your post your comment by this SUNDAY, August 16. Don't forget to tag a friend or two, to help push you to your goal!

See you on the other side 😎

Kevin