Defining your goals: 4. Set measurable goals
How do you know if you've accomplished a goal unless it's measurable? You can't! For example, if your goal is to look better in the mirror after the first month of exercise, you're setting an invitation for failure. How can you objectively measure this? Besides, what if you lose motivation before the first month is up? Then the goal can't be measured at all, even subjectively.
Let's look at the example goals I suggested in the section on "identifying specific goals." First, it's easy to measure whether or not you've exercised twice during the course of a week. All you have to do is mark off on a weekly calendar the days you exercised. Second, charting your progress in an exercise log makes it easy to see if you've increased your aerobic activity by five minutes in two weeks or to see if you've increased the weight you used on the strength training machines. Finally, keeping track of the number of cans of soda each week will tell you whether you were naughty or nice.
A measurable goal is going to give you proof of progress. This leads to greater motivation and greater motivation leads to success.
