The NBA is going all-out to decrease the practice of load management.
January 2024
NBA claims no link between load management and injury risk in report
The NBA is going all-out to decrease the practice of load management.
Packers CB Jaire Alexander suffers another injury, rolls ankle during jog-through
The Packers cornerback stepped on a teammate’s foot Wednesday
Watch Donovan Mitchell score season-high 45, lift Cavaliers past Nets in Paris
“I’d love to come back and play in the Olympics,” Mitchell said.
LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo remain leaders in All-Star fan voting
Trae Young moved past Damian Lillard as a starting guard in the East
You Can Download Microsoft Office 2019 for PC and Mac for $30 Right Now
Looking to add a suite of office apps to your PC or Mac without paying too much? Now through Jan. 14, you can get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office 2019 for your Windows PC or Mac for $29.97. The PC version comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access, while the one for Mac substitues Teams for Publisher and Access.
This purchase is not a subscription to Microsoft 365, but rather a one-time payment that allows you to download the complete Office 2019 suite onto one computer and use the apps for life, without any renewals or subscription fees. Upon purchase, you’ll receive a download link and activation key to install the apps. Just be sure your PC has Windows 10 or newer or your Mac is running on at least Monterey or newer before you buy.
You can get this discount without a coupon code. It’s available until Jan. 14 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.
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Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows on sale for $29.97 (reg. $229)
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Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac on sale for $29.97 (reg. $229)
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Wild Card Weekend viewer’s guide + Matchmaking the head coaching vacancies
What a wild week it’s been in the NFL (and football in general). We saw titans of the game in Pete Carroll and Nick Saban retiring from coaching while the Patriots parted ways with Bill Belichick after a 24-year marriage. Matt Harmon and Dalton Del Don dive into all the coaching news and preview a stacked Wild Card weekend slate.
Use SMART Goals to Work Toward Your Fitness Dreams
If you have big aspirations for 2024—a big deadlift, a marathon, a change in the size of your body—I sure hope you haven’t translated them into the limited, pass-fail box-checking of a SMART goal. But I do hope that you’ve made yourself some SMART goals to guide you through the process. Let me explain.
Why SMART goals are different from Dream Goals
SMART goals have long been heralded as a goal-setting life hack, but the truth is that they were invented for mangers to set quotas and such for their companies (the original “A” stood for “assignable,” as in, to an employee).
A SMART goal, as it’s talked about it the fitness world today, is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Put together, this means you set a deadline by which time you expect to achieve a specific measurement of an outcome. In other words, you’ve turned it into a pass-fail test.
And because you wouldn’t want to fail that pass-fail test, creating a proper SMART goal means that you need to set the bar low. The goal has to be Attainable, remember? When you look at it that way, SMART goals are not goals in the way I would think of the word, in the sense of big dreams that inspire us to keep going. But we can use them as benchmarks to hit on the way to what I’ll call our Dream Goals.
How to dream big while still setting process goals
I’ve written before that SMART goals are overrated, but to be honest, they make a good framework for process goals. Process goals are things that are fully in our control. They are Attainable, by definition. For example, going for a run three times a week is a process goal. Eating a vegetable at every meal is a process goal. Following a program that tells you to do five sets of eight reps of deadlifts every Tuesday is a process goal.
And the point of a process goal is to put you on the path to your big Dream Goal. I like to think of it this way: Your Dream Goal is a big mountain off in the distance. You know it’s there, but you don’t know exactly how far away it is, or how tough the journey will be. Your process goals are things that will keep you on the path toward that mountain. Packing your bags. Putting one foot in front of the other. Or as Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin puts it (right before telling me I better beat my score from her last burpee circuit): “A goal is a wish. A standard holds us accountable.” We need both.
I can’t emphasize how important it is that we allow ourselves to dream big. “Take 1 minute off my 5K race time this year” is attainable, but why limit yourself to that? “Run a 5K in under 20 minutes” is a big-as-hell dream (especially if you’re around 30 minutes right now) but it’s very much worth working for. The path up that mountain might be a long one, but it’s not going to walk itself.
How your SMART goals can support your Dream Goals
So, let’s start charting that path. As with any trip up a faraway mountain, you won’t know quite what the road is like until you get there. So focus on what’s right in front of you and what you can control.
Here’s an example of how you can set some SMART process goals to guide you toward a big dream that may or may not be achievable. Let’s say you’re a runner, and you want to be a faster runner. You might chart out a journey like this:
Dream goal: Run a 5K in 20 minutes or less (someday)
Process goals:
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Build up my aerobic base by running a few more miles each week, until I am running 20 miles a week.
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Run a time trial at the track, both as a benchmark and so I can calculate my training paces.
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Follow the Hal Higdon Intermediate 5K Training Program as written, including the recommended Tuessday and Thursday strength training.
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Run the Big Local 5K in my city this spring.
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Congratulate myself on finishing, assess my strengths and weaknesses, and decide on a new set of process goals for summer training.
See how each of these is a SMART goal?
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They are all Specific enough that you know each day what to do. (I’ve given a mileage number and picked out a specific training program, but obviously you would choose your own.)
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They are Measurable: You hit the miles, or you check off the number of workouts programmed.
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They are Attainable: You have full control of whether or not you go out for a run. (Obviously, if you don’t have full control over this due to life circumstances, you would write a different set of goals that take those circumstances into account.)
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They are Relevant: They all set you on the path toward being a faster runner at the 5K distance.
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They are Time-bound: From this framework, you could sit down and schedule every single run on your calendar for the next three or four months. (You would work backward from the race date to find the start of the training program, and so on.)
These goals define your process, and then you get to reassess. After the Big Local 5K, do you want to do more specific 5K training to get faster? Do you want to train for a marathon for the base-building opportunities and because you kind of like the idea of a side quest? Or might you find that your other goals in life conflict with this one—perhaps you’d rather reduce mileage this summer so you can do more paddleboarding, and return to run training in the fall?
This way, you still get to dream big, but you know you’re always on the path to those big goals—at least as long as you want to be. Shoot for the moon, and if you don’t make it, at least you’ve built a damn good rocket ship along the way.
The Patriots’ — and NFL’s — great debate may never be solved
Tom Brady is retired and Bill Belichick is a free agent for the first time this millennium. We’re not any closer to declaring one more responsible than the other for the sport’s greatest dynasty.
How to Unblock Someone on Instagram
I love blocking people on Instagram. It feels so powerful to revoke their access to me. But that power trip is, admittedly, a little shortsighted sometimes. Occasionally, you have to walk back an impulsive IG blocking—or maybe you decide you want to turn over a new leaf and reconnect with a former nemesis. Whatever the reason, it’s pretty easy to undo that Instagram block.
What blocking on Instagram does
To block someone on Instagram, just navigate to their profile and press on the three dots in the upper right, just to the right of their username. There, you’ll see options like “Restrict,” “Block,” and “Report,” plus others.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Meta
Once you hit “block,” you’ll mutually unfollow each other. They won’t be able to search for or see your profile or see your comments on public pages. You’ll be untagged from each other’s photos and they won’t even be able to see your name atop your DM thread, if one exists. (Instead, you’ll be labeled “Instagram User” and will have a blank profile photo, although the messages will still be visible.)
Conversely, if you still want to see their content, you’ll be able to type their full username into your search bar to find them, but you’ll need to unblock them to see anything.
How to unblock someone on Instagram
There are two ways to unblock someone on Instagram. The first is to type their full username into your search bar. Typing just a bit won’t pull them up; you have to do the full thing. When you tap their profile, you won’t be able to see their following/follower count, but you’ll see how many posts they have, their bio, and their profile picture. Where there would normally be a “follow” button under their profile picture, you’ll see an “unblock” button. Tapping that will trigger a pop-up that prompts you to confirm you want to unblock them.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Meta
Conversely, you can navigate to your profile and hit the three-line menu in the top right, then go to “Setting and privacy.” Scroll down to “Blocked accounts” and you’ll see a list of all your blocks. Find the person you want to unblock in the list, then hit the “unblock” button to the right of their name, which will pull up that same pop-up reminding you that the person (and any of their other associated accounts) will be able to follow and message you again if you go through with it. Then, confirm you want to unblock.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Meta
What to keep in mind about unblocking on Instagram
You won’t automatically follow or be followed by anyone you’ve unblocked, even if you were following each other before the block. In most cases, photos of theirs you’re tagged in will reappear in your tagged photos and comments they’ve left on your pictures will reappear, as will likes they’ve given you. Your DM thread will look normal again, too. The only lingering issue will be that you need to refollow each other, so good luck with that awkwardness, if you plan to attempt it.