A reader and I were chatting the other day, and they wanted to get my/our take on setting goals. In their words:
Milestoning. Little goals and big goals. If you want a metaphor, the milestone system in 4th Edition D&D. I’ve seen it mentioned in some of the posts, but not explicitly discussed.
This is where I have to admit that I haven’t actually played 4th edition yet. However, I’m not letting a little something like my own rank, uninformed ignorance get in the way. If it works for talk radio and cable pundits, it damn sure works on the Internet, right?
While I may not be able to grok in fullness the nuances of the Milestone mechanic, I can certainly understand the value of and desire to set goals. “Goals are dreams with a deadline,” as the saying of unknown provenance goes. So, we’ve established that having them is a good thing. Shifting them when you reach (or merely get close to reaching) one is part of how we keep challenging ourselves. But, after some further back-and-forth with our guest, the real crux of the inquiry came to light – “How do you set smart goals in the first place? What goes into making something good to shoot for?”
This varies from person to person — not only are we all at different points along our path to fitness — even that overall destination isn’t a one-size-fits-all Valhalla – some folks just want to hit level 80, others want to one-shot every endgame boss in a four-hour session. No matter where your ultimate destination is, having waypoints to chart your progress, and having some idea how to ballpark them, is helpful. So, let’s put on our festive Dan’l Boone hats and see about marking the trail we’d like to follow.
Aim High (where it’s okay to miss)
This isn’t just good gun-range safety protcol; if you make your goal extremely challenging (or, as has been suggested, make it multi-faceted (see point 6)), even if you don’t quite reach it, you’ll have gone a long way towards it. If your doctor says you should lose fifty pounds, try to drop a KGR’s worth. If you’d be pleased but not satisfied with doing a 5k in 35:00, shoot for 30:00. Or 20:00.
Just remember that lofty goals will take more time and effort to reach. Which makes reaching them that much more awesome. Killing ten rats gets you a new dagger. Killing ten gods gets your name whispered in reverence.
Crank It Up
Ahh, progression. You’ve conquered your first modest objectives — Ten pounds lost! Ten more lifted! One more block run in The Halfling’s Marathon! — whatever they may be. First, congratulations are in order. Now it’s time to recalibrate. Does another increment of the same size feel like too much, too little, or just about right to shoot for in another six weeks? Adjust accordingly.
S.W.A.G.
The seat of the pants. The hunch. The silly, wild-assed guess. After my old WoW guild cleared Kara and were looking at trying to figure out starting stats for Naxx10, some folks got up to their eyebrows in spreadsheets, forum posts, and arcane runes, trying to suss out what good numbers should be for having a decent shot. I looked at the stuff I’d ballparked for Kara and said, “Enh, I’ll just add 25%.”
What I’m getting at is the notion that nobody knows your body as well as you do. Someone who’s been in the gym a long time, and is a little familiar with your routine and capabilities can probably offer advice on what weight to try, or speed to go, or exercise to use. However, you’ll know if it’s too hard, too easy, or just about right when you try it for yourself. I was doing this with Mike yesterday, when he was on a piece of equipment he hadn’t played with yet. I can say, “You might want to start with X pounds for that, and 3/4 X for that other thing,” but until he was moving the weight himself, neither of us had any idea if X was anywhere close to what it should be. I know him pretty well, and it was fairly close. I know some of you, though not necessarily as accurately. Some of y’all? No clue whatsoever. I’m just some dude at the other end of the ‘tubes who has no idea what you’re capable of.
I don’t have any specific advice, beyond “There Is No Try / Just Do It.” Lowering your body fat (within the healthy range) is certainly good.
If you’d like hard numbers for strength training, these are pretty good. If you’ve got specific questions, strictly non-professional advice and banter is available in the comments.
As you get more in tune with your skills and abilities, and get a hint of what you might be capable of, you might surprise yourself with what you can accomplish. So set those goals for short, medium, and long-term, and go get ‘em.
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