The Importance of Setting Goals for Active Fun

publication date: Aug 31, 2008

 | 

author/source: Jennifer Tankersley

Good health is a never-ending quest.  You don’t come by it without a lot of thought and effort.  Maybe in the elementary school years when recess was built into the day, but as adults, a conscious effort to pursue a healthy lifestyle must be made.  Sometimes words such as “workout” or “exercise” sound daunting because of negative experiences or thoughts associated with them.  Maybe you’ve never considered yourself athletic and despise the idea of sweat.  You can, however, trick yourself into a calorie-burning, muscle-building, heart-pounding activity if you’ll learn how to schedule active fun into your day.  If you are expecting to just remember to fit it in, you’ll end up at 10 o’clock at night, wondering where the day went and how you failed to squeeze in any healthy activity yet again.  Here are a few of the benefits you’ll experience when you take a moment to create opportunities for active fun.

1.  By adding exercise or play to your calendar, you are giving yourself a dose of motivation.  Once it is written down, your goal to exercise becomes more like a contract with yourself.  Written goals have the added benefit of then becoming a record of the amount and frequency of actual exercise, which allows you to raise your own awareness of just how much physical activity you are accomplishing.

2.  Increase that motivation by enlisting a family member or friend to participate with you.  You are much more likely to follow through on your goals when you are held to a higher level of accountability.  It is one thing to tell yourself that you are going to get up early to walk, but it is quite another to you tell your friend that you will meet her early for a walk.  In addition, not only will you be strengthening your body, but you will be strengthening relationships as well.

3.  Active fun should be just that.  Exercise should be considered recreation.  Think back to the sports or games that you used to enjoy.  Maybe you used to love hitting tennis balls, playing soccer, or even running in races.  Take your family to the tennis court and get everyone involved.  Find a team or sign up for a 5K.  Maybe you have always wanted to learn to play golf or take a yoga class.  It is never too late to try something new.

Even if your goal is simply to walk around the block with the kids every day after school, you are still incorporating physical activity into your lifestyle and giving your children an excellent example to live by. 

Jennifer Tankersley is the creator ListPlanIt.com where you can find over 350 lists and planning pages organize your life and put your world in order, including pages to help you create or maintain a healthy and active lifestyle and much more.  She is also writes List Mama Blog: Lists of Lists for List-Lovin’ Mamas.