future goals

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2010-12-30 7:50 AM

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Master
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Subject: future goals
Is there a reason you can't start goals in the future?  I want to set up a goal to swim twice a week in Jan, but I can't until Jan 1.  I just thought it would be nice to set up a future goal, if only because I thought of it now and want to get it set up before it starts.  It also seems a little confusing/redundant with defining the start and end date of the goal and you have to enter the length of the goal in weeks, not sure I'm doing it right.  Can you help?

Thanks!

2011-01-02 10:35 AM
in reply to: #3267601

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Subject: RE: future goals
Not having a start date in the future is both a philosophical and practical thing. If you're going to start working on something in the future, it's a dream not a goal. Nothing wrong with that, but this tool is meant to be a motivator that tracks something you're currently working on.

As to the dates and weeks, that's there because a goal doesn't necessarily have to be during the entire period you're working towards it.  It's probably best explained with an example. Say you're currently running 6 miles per week and you want to get up to running 20 miles per week.  This is obviously something you would want to work up to, rather than jumping that much right away.  Also, it's good to set a criteria of more than one week to ensure you don't hit your mark and then fall off. So , you can create a goal of "by Date X I will run at least 20 miles per week for 2 consecutive weeks." 
2011-01-05 9:06 AM
in reply to: #3272335

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Subject: RE: future goals

Ok - I think I understand the second and the reason for defining two time periods - I hadn't thought of it like that.  Thanks.


On future goals, I guess I don't have a philosophical issue with saying that I want to swim 30,000 yards in Jan (just as an example) and defining that goal on Dec 28th.  I DO have an issue with defining that goal on Jan 15th however.  I did this for my last goal and thought it was "cheap".  I set a goal to run x number of miles each month from Sept to Dec.  But I only set it for Sept because I had already hit that number (I think I made the goal at the very end of Sept or early Oct).  So people can "game the system" if you will, and it's up to me, as the user and goal setter to be honest with myself about the goals I set and meeting them.  This is a tool that helps me define and track them.  I guess I don't think that tool should restrict how I set and when I define those goals though, as I find it useful to define my goals for the coming weeks/months beforehand.  You disagree, and that is fine, don't change it on my account.

OTOH - Garmin Connect will not let you set a goal that starts in the past.  This is really annoying because if I wanted to run 40 miles this week, but forgot to set it up on Monday, I can't on Tuesday.  So I'm being honest with myself, but I can't set up the goal (unlike my example before - I wasn't honest with myself and set a "cheap" goal).

But, my issue really isn't that big a deal anyway, as I can just wait a few days to define the goal on BT.  I was just confused why I couldn't set a future goal.  No biggie.


It's up to us to be honest with ourselves about our goals? at the end of the day anyway ?

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