EMPOWER Co-Owner, Ronda’s Goals for 2014: 

As many of you know I am super Type A so as soon as we clinked our glasses, and exchanged a kiss to ring in the New Year, I was ready to bear down, commit and verbalize my goals to my husband.  Needless to say 12:05 am Jan. 1 is not the best time to start a “we need to talk” discussion with your significant other.    My husband, being a bit less neurotic merely suggests, “what’s so special about Jan. 1 to set out a new plan for the New Year and moreover what’s so special about the month of January in general.”  His philosophy is that we should constantly be working to be better, do better, give more, achieve more, etc so why go through this practice every January.  A noble perspective for sure, but I digress.

So I have allowed myself the past 2 weeks to really think long and hard about what I want to achieve this year and how I can break those goals into real measurable steps and commit to a plan to achieve them.  We all know that setting S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-sensitive) goals is the way to go, and for the better part of two weeks I’ve been struggling with how to quantify my goals in put them into the SMART rubric.  Would I like run a little faster, finish a specific race, complete some feat of strength, lose a few pounds, save more/spend less and all the myriad of other typical resolutions we hear this time of year? The answer is a resounding YES!  But out of that list I can’t think of one thing that I am super committed to put into SMART format, and quite honestly nothing really resonates as being so important to achieve that I’m willing to sacrifice in other areas of my life.

I thought about just throwing out the whole SMART goals rubric completely and going with just some generalities for this year, but I know there is a lot of value about being specific, having a plan and putting some time limits as to when to measure success.  Furthermore I’m a fitness professional and I can’t rightly tell others to set SMART goals and not do so myself.

So here we go in SMART(ish) format and not necessarily in order of importance:

1. Strength train twice a week – Ok, full disclosure – I do exercise 4-5 times per week, but for the better part of the last 3 years I have pretty much neglected a true strength building program and focused mostly on interval training, cardio or just getting in a workout.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this approach, but I’ve also been whining about some little aches and pains that I’m certain will subside if I just dedicate the time to getting stronger.  I’ve already made good on this one and have been on a solid strength training program with one of our trainers, Eric Broadbent at Empower Personalized Fitness Raleigh.  Truth be told I already feel better and stronger and have less pain when I run and carry out my daily activities (like chasing and lugging around a 3 year old) and that’s after only two weeks.

   

2. Spend more time with my daughter – ok I know that’s not in SMART format, but for the first half of this year I am committing to leave work early one day/week to take Kendall to a dance class. I had to commit to a SMART goal on this one because in true workaholic fashion this would probably be the goal that gets pushed if things get too busy. So I’ve committed financially, I verbalized my goal to my spouse and my team at work and Kendall now knows that she does “balway” (Ballet) on Thursdays so I must make it happen.  And we all know what fury can ensue if you promise something to a 3 year old and make bad on that promise. Suffice it to say –  It.Ain’t.Pretty.

   

3. Grow Empower Personalized Fitness and EMPOWER more people to lead stronger, healthier, happier lives. – Again this isn’t necessarily quantifiable or SMART in nature, but our TEAM does have a very specific plan as to how to achieve some important benchmarks for Empower- especially in relation to our new Empower Raleigh studio.  In my opinion, we have the best TEAM of professionals working together at both Empower Durham and Empower Raleigh to help individuals and small groups achieve their fitness goals and it is my plan and intention that 2014 is a BIG year for both locations.

So there you have it – that’s my big three goals for 2014.  What are your goals for 2014?  Are you having a hard time getting SMART with your goals and dialing into something that is going to push your needle a little along the spectrum? Or maybe you’re thinking, “what’s so special about January?” Good news is Empower is here now in January and all year long to help you live your best life yet.  Join us on this journey!

 
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