When S.M.A.R.T Isn't So Smart

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 "timely") and all that kind of stuff.

I think ideas like this are good in certain contexts. They certainly work in the business world and other environments. But I personally believe it's a waste of time when you're starting an exercise program. 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 creating the program, 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 skill well worth developing. 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 God 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.

This is one reason why I'm not a huge fan of this kind of stuff. But there's another reason why I tend to think these things are a waste of time and that's as follows: even if these practices did work, and even if they didn't lead to paralysis by analysis, I don't think they address the real problem.

In another article (Hell is Other People), I spoke about how the two chief enemies of success were other people and aggravation. In that article, I focussed on the first problem; this time we'll look at how aggravation is another real killer.

The premise behind all the conventional goal-setting and motivation stuff seems to be that we need to be, well, motivated. That we're short on desire and we need to find ways to make ourselves want something. Personally, I think that's nonsense. I don't think that anyone starting a program like this one is short of desire. You may have come to this website because you wanted to look and feel younger, to become more attractive, or to have a better quality of life. Whatever. 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 don't need to walk around repeating mantras to yourself either.

So then why do so many people quit programs like this after a few weeks or days? When that happens, have they lost their desire? Have they become unmotivated? I say the answer is still a big, fat no. If you asked someone who quit a program if they still wanted to feel healthier, look youthful and be attractive, my bet is that they would definitely say that they did. I mean, if they wanted something badly a few weeks ago, I don't think that this wish suddenly went away.

No; a decrease in motivation is not what causes most people to quit. I believe that the desire is always there, but that it eventually gets overwhelmed by all the aggravation - all the annoying crap that comes along with the new lifestyle - until they can't take any more. In the first few days, they haven't yet had to deal with much aggravation, and so their desire is unimpeded. That's why gyms are always full in January for example.

But unfortunately, there is just so much annoying crap out there - and so many types of it - that for many people, the desire just hasn't got a chance of outweighing it in the long term. I don't think it's worth even trying. I think a better option is to keep the amount of aggravation as low as possible. This, I believe, is where we should concentrate our efforts.

When I'm talking about aggravation, by the way, please note that I'm not talking about the training itself. Most people enjoy the training; it's just all the annoying nonsense that can go with it which is the problem. Looking back at my own history, I've never had a time when I didn't love training in the gym. All the times when I've been demotivated have been caused by the aggravation of actually getting there in the first place. Once I was there, things were was fine. If I could have teleported myself from my house into the gym, wearing my training clothes and ready to go, and then once I was finished, teleported back again, magically showered and changed, I don't think I would ever have felt like missing a session.

It's a similar story with the nutritional side. Not many people like to admit this, but what you eat and drink is actually as important to your goals as the training. Unfortunately, the aggravation associated with correct nutrition is even worse than that associated with the training. Again, you should be aware that the problem does not lie with disliking the food itself. And it's also nothing to do with going hungry or starving yourself. It's not as if you're going to be limited to eating lettuce leaves or anything stupid like that. The problem is simply the sheer inconvenience involved in preparing healthy meals - unless you follow the advice I'll share with you.

Using myself as an example once again, whenever I've found myself eating junk, it's not really because I enjoyed it more than eating properly. Okay, very occasionally there might have been a craving for something like chocolate, but nine times out of ten it was simply because the junk was convenient. If I could have had a personal chef do the food shopping, prepare my healthy meals, deliver them to me wherever I was, take my dirty plates away and do all the washing up, I'd be perfectly happy to eat correctly - forever.

Unfortunately, most of us will never be in the position to teleport to the gym and back or to have a personal chef deal with our food. However, there is still an awful lot we can do to minimise, or even eliminate, much of the aggravation that would otherwise build up and ruin our success.

Let me give you just one example, which is simply getting to the gym in the first place. Usually when people say things like, "I haven't got the time to exercise", it really means that they haven't got the time to spend driving to the gym, battling traffic, hunting for parking and driving back again. This is a fair point. Even if we had unlimited time, it just doesn't make sense to me to spend an hour or more on travelling, just for a 45 minute workout.

The answer, obvious as it may sound, is to choose your gym based primarily on proximity and ease of transport. Even though this does sound trivial, you'd be surprised how many people don't do this. They may join a gym that's far away because it's the most modern, or has the best equipment, or simply because they want to train where their friends train.

Don't you make that mistake. Choose a gym that you can get to easily and quickly - one that won't involve your being stuck in a car getting pissed off and stressed out. Trust me, an adequate or even mediocre gym that you can actually get to frequently is worth much more than the one full of the latest hi-tech equipment, but which you never go to. Fancy shiny machines aren't important to your success, and this program doesn't use them anyway.

And don't let yourself be led by price. Don't make the mistake of joining a gym that's far away and a nightmare to get to just in order to save some money on membership. It's usually a false economy anyway; if you never get any use from the gym then it is very expensive, no matter how little it costs. Hell, if you don't have any gyms you can use, you can train in your garage with just a couple of dumbbells, a barbell and a bench. Some of my own best results have come from garage training.

I want your new lifestyle to be as easy and low maintenance as possible. You see, you need to be lazy if you want to succeed.

Huh? How the hell can you succeed at anything by being lazy?

I believe that, ironically, you do have to be "lazy" if you want to stick with this program. It's not that I'm against working hard - you'll soon find out there is a lot of hard work involved - it's simply that I believe in saving that hard work for your training.

My view is that you have limited amounts of time, patience and energy, and I want you to spend those on things that are going to give you results. Does sitting in traffic give you a better body? No. Does washing pots and pans help you look like a Greek god? Hell no! So as far as I'm concerned, you should be lazy when it comes to these things. Don't lose sight of what your purpose is.

Remember, it's very easy, especially in the modern world, to constantly be "busy", but never actually achieve anything. Aim to do only those things that will really help you succeed; the rest is just a distraction.

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 start The Apollo Program, and finish it in 12 weeks! That's the only goal you need to set. The rest will take care of itself. You and I will see to that.