I broke it

It seems everyone knows about SMART goal setting. Just in case you've been living under a rock for the last couple years, here's a rundown:

Make your goal SPECIFIC by answering the questions "what? when? where? why?"

Make them MEASURABLE by setting limits of how much or how many.

They should be ATTAINABLE, but also ACTION-ORIENTED. This means don't get yourself up to fail by trying to lose 10 lbs in a week, but at the same time say what you're going to do to achieve your goal. For example: "I'm going to lose 10 lbs. in the next two months by exercising and cutting sugar out of my diet."

Goals should be REALISTIC and RELEVANT. Realistic is the same as attainable - you can be ambitious, but don't shoot for the moon if you're not on track to be an astronaut. Honestly, I'm not sure what relevant is supposed to mean unless it's a business goal. In that case, you shouldn't be shooting for the moon unless you work for NASA, or one of the independent companies now focused on space travel.

It's also very important to set a TIMEFRAME for your goals so you know when to start, or when to kick it into high gear. Goals with no timeframe just sit there as you take care of more insistent matters.

So why the refresher course on goal-making? Because I broke some of the rules in my weekly goals post yesterday. Specifically, I should have put down "drink 2 liters of water" for each day, instead of just focusing on hydration. I focused on hydration yesterday, but I didn't get enough to drink. I just thought about it a lot!

So that's my new goal. 2 liters of water every day, not including what I drink when I run. I figure whatever I drink when I run is used up in the effort, and on those days I need more hydration anyway.