Set S.M.A.R.T Goals

Before you begin, it is important to set SMART Goals, or you can really lose track of what you are trying to achieve, or lose motivation to complete the task at hand.

SPECIFIC – Set out a specific route, a specific distance, a specific time you want to plog for, and how many items you aim to collect.  If you are focussed on improving your fitness you may want to aim for a specific speed or time to complete the distance in.

MEASURABLE – How can you measure your specific goals?  Perhaps counting and documenting the number of items you get, following a measurable plog route on a phone or watch for example

ACHIEVABLE – Make sure your goals are achievable.  E.g Don’t plan a 3-hour speedy run, with the aim to collect 100 items of rubbish on your first plog.  You will be exhausted, you won’t be able to carry all the items, and you will give up and feel disheartened.  Plan to carry out your plog on a quiet day of the week, that you can commit to weekly, and not say on a weekday when you may be tired and have a lot of homework.

REALISTIC – Keep your goals realistic – Use your first week as a ‘taster’ session and document how many items you were able to carry before it was too heavy, or how much you were able to pick up in an hour, or how fast you were able to achieve the distance.

TIMELY – Plan a start date, a start time, a finish time, which day you will do it.

A great plan is to tweek your goals each week, slightly increasing the amount of items, or the distance chosen, perhaps add some exercises in each week to break it up, eg bench presses or burpees, so you can feel extremely proud of how you have developed and improved from week 1 through to week 12.

Finally – Make it Fun