S.M.A.R.T. Walking

I’m going to brag about my wife today. 

Yesterday, while taking Clementine on an early morning walk Hannah confessed she had a new goal for the month of June, to walk at least 30 miles. Our standard route with Clem is one mile, so her goal is to do it once a day, at a minimum. Running will count towards her total too. 

This is a fantastic goal, for a few reasons. First, it’s a low bar, attainable task. It takes a small amount of time and effort every day. It rewards her for consistency, not heroic efforts. Meaning, the more frequently she gets a short walk in, the easier it will be to complete the goal. Low-bar challenges like this build momentum. The longer your streak goes the more motivated you are to complete it and it might even leave her walking two miles a day towards the end of the month. 

I often talk about our tendency to make goals too hard. Here is a real life example of an excellent goal. She has a process, do it in the morning or at lunch time. It’s a S.M.A.R.T. goal, which is a helpful acronym for creating good goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. I was quite impressed with her new goal, and I hope it motivates you to come up with a reasonable goal or challenge for yourself. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain