Don,t wast your time setting goals.

A currently popular idea in the fitness world is the whole business of setting goals. I believe that much of this stuff is filtering down from the corporate world. We're told by books and trainers that we need to write down our goals and then break them down into sub-goals and then make sure that they're S.M.A.R.T.("specific", "measurable", "attainable", "realistic" and "time related") and all that kind of stuff.

I think ideas like this are good in certain contexts. Yes, they certainly can work in business and academic environments. But I can't help thinking it's a waste of time when it comes to exercise. In fact, I'll go as far as saying that I believe that most of the popular "motivational stuff" like visualisations, affirmations and even goal-setting itself - is a waste of time. At best, it's overrated.

When I was transforming my body, I did a huge amount of research, and that meant reading a lot of books on sports, health, fitness, self-improvement and nutrition. And I do mean a lot! I'm always thankful that I'm a speed-reader; it's a very valuable skill to have. Anyway, what I noticed about all these books was that the ones I liked the least were the ones with a lot of preparatory homework in the beginning. One diet book wanted me to spend a week writing down everything I ate before I even got to start the diet plan. A self-help book wanted me to spend that week writing down and analysing my thoughts and feelings and heaven knows what else. And an exercise book advised me to write out a statements like "I radiate health and happiness!" on a card every day and carry them around with me.

I didn't want to do any of this; I just wanted to get started!

Perhaps for some people, this kind of preparation can be useful. But for many - myself included - it's a sure way to get trapped in what's known as paralysis by analysis: endlessly researching, analysing and planning stuff, but never actually, you know, doing it. I bet that most books like this end up gathering dust on a shelf, or being sold on eBay, having never been read beyond the first or second chapters.

The premise behind all the conventional fitness goal-setting and motivation stuff seems to be that we need to be, well, motivated. That we lack desire and that we need to find some way to force ourselves to want something. Personally, I think that's nonsense. You may be reading this article because you wanted to look and feel younger, to become more attractive, or to have a better quality of life. Whatever. The point is, I'm sure that you already know what you want. You don't need to spend days writing it down and analysing the hell out of it! And you really don't need to walk around repeating slogans to yourself either.

So does this article mean that I'm against having goals? Not at all. But just don't go overboard. Don't get S.M.A.R.T.; get smart. Just get someone to show you a good program, and then start it! That's all the goal-setting you need to do. The rest will take care of itself.