It's bright and early on a Monday morning, so what better time to be thinking about setting a goal? This week’s expert is Rebecca Hawkins, a lecturer in Sport & Exercise Psychology and a PhD researcher at the University of Lincoln. Her research investigates the importance of goal setting when starting to be physically active. This is a key area of research, given concerns with levels of inactivity across the world and because people struggle with creating new healthy habits. So, let’s get stuck in, and learn all about the role of a good goal...
Key question: Am I setting the right goal when starting to be more physically active?
When you want to learn a new skill, goal setting is important. When starting to exercise or be more physically active it has been suggested to use a SMART approach to goal setting. That is, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant/Realistic, and Time-bound.
Specific: means having a goal that has a clear endpoint, focus and aim
Measurable: means you should be able to track and record your progress towards the goal
Achievable: means setting a goal that is feasible for you in your current situation
Relevant: means that the goal should relate back to you and your own objectives
Time-bound: means including a time-frame and end date to help track your goal
A new approach needed?
However, researchers have started to question the application of SMART goals for physical activity, as they do not fully consider how complicated a task is, or the person’s current physical activity level. Specifically, it is now proposed that setting specific and challenging goals may not always be the best practice, especially in the early stages of learning a new or challenging task. For example, if you are not used to being physically active.
From a psychological perspective it has been suggested that increasing physical activity could be considered as a complex task for people who aren’t used to being active. For example, a person may have to think about the frequency, intensity, duration, and the mode of their physical activity, think about scheduling and organising becoming physically active, as well being able to cope with pressures such as commitment, motivation or a need to overcome other difficulties. Yes… for many of us, becoming regularly physically active might not be that simple! So, if we consider beginning to be physically active as a complex task, setting specific or challenging goals may not always be the most appropriate.
What does my research show?
More recently, setting open goals (e.g., "see how well you can do", “see how far you can walk/run” or “see what you can achieve on this task”) have been suggested to be beneficial for physical activity promotion for some people (click here and here for the research). My own work examines the use of open goals and the comparison of other goal types that were previously used. We wanted to determine how people who were physically active and people were were not used to being physically active, responded to a range of psychological variables during a walking task when different types of goals were set.
The results suggest that for individuals who are looking to become more physically active, they are more likely to experience greater pleasure and enjoyment, as well as reduced perceptions of effort, if they use open rather than specific or challenging goals. Therefore, the findings suggest that the one-size-fits-all approach to goal setting may need to be reconsidered, as SMART goals might be less appropriate for those in the early stages of becoming more physically active. These results support the idea that open goals may be beneficial for physical activity promotion, if someone is not used to being physically active.
Take home message: If you are thinking about starting to be more physically active, setting open goals (instead of complex/specific goals) could be more beneficial for you!