When was the last time you achieved a goal you had set?
When was the last time you achieved a health goal?
If it’s been a while, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and make sure that you have set yourself up for success!
Yes, you can set hard goals, and yes, you can achieve them!
Read on for my best tips that have helped me and my clients actually achieve intense goals in 6 months.
1. Make it Realistic
This is number one for a reason! If you woke up tomorrow and decided to be a marathon runner by the end of the week…it probably wouldn’t go so well!
Just like it takes time to train for a marathon, you have to give yourself time to establish a new goal/habit.
If you are wanting to start working out consistently - start smaller than your end goal! That way you can continue to build on your success and have those mini achievements keep motivating you forward.
When I first started my health journey I wanted to become healthy. There were a couple of problems with the way that goal was phrased (see #2), but my first action was to finish a workout program.
I didn’t set a specific number of days to work out, but I focused on completing the workout program. The program was to work out 7 days a week - which was not realistic for me to go from working out 0 days a week to 7.
Instead, I focused on slowly upping the days I worked out. I think it took me two and half months to complete the program and get to a point where I worked out consistently. My next goal was to finish the program by working out 7 days and I finished it in a little less than a month.
As you write your goals, be sure to be realistic with yourself. Focus on setting a goal you can actually achieve and work on bumping the intensity as you go along.
2. Make it Measurable
One of the biggest hurdles people face is setting goals with a way to measure their success. Setting a goal to become healthy sounds great, but how will you know if you achieved it?
Think of what healthy looks like to you: is it eating fruits and veggies? Working out a certain number of days a week? Taking a break during your work hours?
Define what your goal is and make sure that it’s something you can finish! Becoming healthy is a life-long journey, but working out 3 days a week for 3 months is something you can measure and achieve!
Side note: Set a goal that if you miss once, you can still achieve your goal! I was going to set a goal to have a plant-based meal every week, but that didn’t allow for me to ever miss once.
Instead, I set a goal to try 30 plant-based recipes in a year. That goal allowed me to live life, while still making progress toward my goal of incorporating more plant-based meals into my life.
3. Keep it Center of Mind
How can you keep the goal center of mind? I wrote down a bunch of my goals last year in
the front of my planner, but after one week, I didn’t use that page anymore.
Not only was it hard to remember them, but I also wrote down 10 things. It's hard enough to focus on one new habit, but trying to change 10 things, especially when I didn't see the list every day, was hopeless!
(You can always set lots of goals, but I've found giving yourself a small number of things to focus on at a time equals success)
Instead, find a place where you can put your goal where you will see it regularly! It could be on your fridge, your mirror, or even set up a reminder on your phone.
Make it easy for yourself to not forget the goal!
4. Find Accountability
Find a buddy that you can tell about your goals. Let them know how they can be a good buddy to you - do you want them to ask you about your goals, be someone to talk to when your motivation is gone, etc.
Having a buddy will help you on those days when it's harder to work on your goals.
You can also set up accountability for yourself! Schedule dates in your calendar now to check in with yourself. I suggest 1-month, 3-month, and 6-months. Allow yourself to reflect on how it's going and set the next step for your time frame.
Treat those check-ins like you would a meeting with your boss - prepare for them and don't flake out on the meeting. You deserve to keep your commitments to yourself.
If you are looking for extra accountability or even need help in setting your goals, join the waitlist for my 1:1 health coaching. You'll be the first to know when applications are live. Sign up here: https://shainajoyce.myflodesk.com/healthcoaching
You can do hard things!
Shaina Joyce
Comments