A Simple Goal Setting Process For Hikers

In this episode, I explore a simple goal-setting process a hiker can use as they look towards 2026 (this is a MUCH simpler approach than I usually talk about).
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​Episode Transcript:

[0:00] Right. Hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. And in today's episode,

[0:03] we are talking about goal setting for hiking. And we're going to be diving through some really, really simple ideas around setting your goals for the year ahead. Now, I'm sure on social media, articles, whatever it may be, you are probably getting bombarded with this stuff at this time of year because everyone's thinking and talking about goal setting. But it does need to be said because it is a very, very important time where a lot of people are very motivated, a lot of people are very pumped up, and a bit of goal setting can really go a long way. Now, in the past, when I have talked about goal setting, I've often talked about, or sometimes talked about, you know, going through a big goal setting process at the start of the year. For me and my wife, Ali, what we typically do is we sit down at the start of each year, we sit down for about 45 minutes, and we go through a really, really big process. We've got all these questions that we go through, and we talk through what are our goals for our relationship? What are our goals for our family? What are our goals for our finances? What are our goals for our exercise? And we've got this whole process which we go through each year. And in all honesty, it feels absolutely awesome to do. It's super exciting. It's super fun. We feel really, really, really good in the moment. But typically, when we come to the end of the year, I've kind of realized that a lot of the goals that we set doesn't really make that much difference to how we approach the year. Because we come to the end of the year, We're like, well, we've kind of done some of these things.

[1:27] And a lot of the things we haven't done. And I've asked myself, like, if we didn't actually sit down and do this specific goal setting, would it be any different to kind of where we're at? And in all honesty, over the years, I've kind of changed my idea around goal setting for, you know, the beginning of the year. And I am moving away from this more long, drawn-out process because it does feel good. It is fun. It is exciting. But I don't know how effective it really can be. So today, I want to talk you through a really, really, really simple process that you can use, which I think personally may be a little bit more effective and a little bit more honed in and concise.

[2:03] So if you're at the start of the year and you're like, yeah, I'm pumped up, I'm excited, I really want to make this year super, super, super effective, here's a really simple goal setting process for you. Now, first and foremost, what I would recommend is just have a think about, and you probably already know this, but what is the big thing or big things that you want to achieve in 2026. Here, we want to set something really specific, something that you can say, you know what, this is exactly what I'm going to do on this date. So this may be, hey, in June, I want to go hike the Grand Canyon, or I want to go do this hike, or I want to do this hike. In December, I want to do this hike, or whatever it may be. Or if you don't have a particular hike you're training for, maybe I want to go do this event, I want to do this marathon, I want to do this, or whatever it may be. But set yourself one or two really specific big goals that you want to achieve.

[2:53] Write it down, write down what you want to achieve, when you want to achieve it by, and it should be very, very easy to say, yes or no, have I done that? So number one. Then number two, what I want you to do is pull things in a little bit, pull things back, and not think about too long term, but I just want you to think about January. And ask yourself, in January, what do I want to accomplish? This could be another specific goal you want to do. It may say, hey, I actually want to do this particular hike and build up to. Or it literally could just be like things that you want to do in the month, which are going to contribute to your longer term goals. So it may say in January, I want to train three days a week. That's the goal I want to set myself. Or in January, I want to make sure that I hike at least four times. Or in January, I want to do this or this. And you can think about these things that may contribute to that longer term goal. And maybe set yourself two or three of these for January of little things that you are going to commit to over January to make happen.

[3:58] Then, at this stage, we have our big goals with a timeline, and we've got our January goals. Then from here, you're going to set yourself a few reminders. Because the biggest thing that we often see, and I see this personally, is we do this goal setting, it's super, super excited, and then we just forget about it. We just don't look at it again. And we're just like, whatever may be. Or we realize that we're kind of falling off track a little bit, so we just ignore it. Because we don't really want to look into it. We don't really want to acknowledge it. We're like, I'm off my goals, whatever it may be. So it's really, really useful initially just to set yourself a really, really, really specific time of like when you're going to check in on how things are going. So right now, once you've done it, get out both your calendar and get out your phone and just set yourself a check-in for the end of January, just to sort of say, have I done what I said I'd do? Put a reminder on your phone so literally an alarm will go off and put a note in your calendar just to remind yourself. So it's in two places. just say in this on this date i'm going to check in and then two more things you want to do you want to sort of say if at the end of january have i accomplished these things i set out.

[5:07] How am i going to reward myself what am i going to do to acknowledge this might be say hey i've done these things i'm going to buy a nice piece of hiking gear i've done these things i'm going to go out to a nice dinner i've done these things or whatever may be so have something that you can literally signify that you've done this. And on the flip side of this is if you get to the end of January and you're like, I haven't actually done these things I set out to and I had these big goals, but I couldn't even stick to my January goals. What are you going to do?

[5:34] Write it down now before you even get to that point, because you'll get to that point and you'll be like, I haven't done anything, so I'm just going to kind of ignore things. Write it down now. What are you going to do? If I get to end of January and I have not accomplished what I set out to do, I'm going to talk to a friend and get a training buddy. I'm going to hire a trainer. I'm going to do this program. I'm going to take a different approach. I'm going to do this or whatever it may be. And be really, really clear and specific. And that's literally it. That's the goal process. And it sounds really, really simple, but I think, personally, this may be a bit more effective than the whole long, drawn-out process. Set yourself some really big, specific goals for 2026. Set a timeline. Set a deadline. Then hone in on January. Set yourself what we call those process goals, those simple, specific things you're going to do during January to help you

[6:27] towards those big goals. And then set a reminder in your phone, a reminder in your calendar to check in. If you've accomplished those January goals, how are you going to reward yourself? If you haven't accomplished those January goals, what are you going to do? What specifically are you going to do to turn things around so January doesn't turn to February, doesn't turn to March, doesn't turn to April, and you end up just accomplishing nothing for months and months and months. And then obviously.

[6:54] The follow-up on that is if you have accomplished your January goals, at that stage, it's worthwhile doing February goals and do a similar thing and say, in February, this is what I want to do, and just repeat, repeat, repeat until you're at your long-term goal.

[7:08] It sounds simple, but I personally think it'll be very, very, very effective. So there we go. That is my challenge for you. If you are a hiker who does get in the habit of doing these big, big, long, drawn-out goal-setting processes, but you never really follow through with anything, or maybe you're like, well, it is fun but doesn't really do anything or maybe you're someone who just never does any goal setting but you're like hey maybe this may be useful i strongly encourage you to give it a go because it is simple but it can be very very useful and the final thing i will mention as i always do mention is if you're a hiker and you have big goals for 2026 and you're like you know what i feel like i do need a bit of help to build towards these i would love a bit of personalized support to help build up my fitness my strength my resilience to get ready for these things i I would love to chat with you. If you want to find out a little bit more about our online personal training for hikers, you can go to summitstrength.com.au slash online. On that page, there's a big video which talks to about our program. And if it sounds like something you want to get involved with or at least learn a little bit more about, there's a link on that page. You can book a free call with our team. We can have a bit of a chat and take it from there. So with that being said, if you want to check it out, it's summitstrength.com.au slash online. We can take it from there. So thank you so much for listening. Hope you had a lovely day. Hope a few people can put this goal setting into action and we'll talk to you very soon. Bye.

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