Goals: Setting Yourself Up for Success

Obviously, goals are a big part of accomplishments, but some struggle with how to set goals and how to stick to them. It's hard! I'm one to set high, lofty goals then struggle with following through with my goals. Goals help us try harder, work longer, and achieve more. In Daniel Pink’s book Drive, Pink describes healthy and unhealthy goals, “Goals that people set for themselves and that are devoted to attaining mastery are usually healthy. But goals imposed by others can sometimes have dangerous side effects.” When our goal is not self-directed, we lose joy in the activity itself, typically take shortcuts, and become less dedicated to our goal. When we determine our goals, it is important that we base them on our personal values, in order to be more apt to follow through with them.  (I’ll be using fitness and nutrition as the example throughout the post, but the application can apply to any goal.)

1.)    What are your values underlying your fitness goals?
      For me, we only have one life to live and I want to be able to take care of myself physically as best as I can in order to live a full, long life. I also want to be a good example for my daughter in taking care of our bodies in a proper way, which includes exercise and good nutrition. The characteristics that support my values are self-care, dedication, health/wellness, perseverance.

2.)    When it comes to setting goals make them SMART goals:

·         Specific: specify the actions you will take, when and where you will do so and who or what is involved. “I will exercise 5 times a week.”

·         Meaningful: Make the goal personally meaningful to you, not something you do out of obligation or to please others.

·         Adaptive: Does your goal improve the quality of your life?

·         Realistic: Something you can realistically achieve, taking into account your lifestyle, work, family, health, time, financial status, and means. Can you change anything to help reach your goal?

·         Time-bound: to increase the specificity of your goal, give a time when you will focus on your goal, “I will exercise at 7:30am every morning before work, Monday through Friday.” You may need to adjust the time depending on your weekly schedule, but do so accordingly rather than force a time slot that doesn’t fit your schedule well, which will stress you out and increase your chances of skipping your goal for the day.

3.)    Write down a graduated series of goals, starting with basic, easier goals you can accomplish right away, moving up to long term goals that may take months or years to accomplish.

·         An Immediate Goal (something small, simple, easy you can do in the next 24 hours): I am going to create a month long meal plan based on the food in the house and determine what else we need.

·         Short term goals (something you can accomplish over the next few days and weeks): Workout and/or run 3 to 5 times a week

·         Medium term goals (things I can do over the next few weeks or months): Complete a workout program 

·      Long term goals (things I can do over the next few months and years): Train in martial arts again.

Hope you found this post helpful in setting you up for success. Starting off right is a big part of reaching your goals. Feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, opinions. Find this post helpful? Share it and let your friends know! 

Information for this post was gathered from Drive by Daniel Pink and The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris