Have you ever started something new, only to give up a few weeks in?
...Yep, it's happened to all of us.
Life gets busy and our minds constantly get distracted by other things. This especially rings true when it comes to New Year's resolutions. In fact, studies have shown that approximately 92% of New Year's resolutions quickly fail.
However, despite this, it's still integral to set goals. In fact, did you know, that according to a Harvard Business study, those with clearly defined goals are 10 times more likely to succeed than those who don?t set goals. The value in setting goals has been unequivocally proven; yet, a whopping 83% of people don?t set them.
If you are trying to implement some more healthy habits into your life, then it's vital to set some goals. Otherwise, you'll fall back into the same old trap of giving up after a few weeks because you have nothing tangible to aim for. Setting an ambitious (but achievable) goal can prove the difference maker in helping you to improve your overall health.
But How Do You Set Good Goals When It Comes To Your Health?
Well, basically... start big and then break them down. You can do this by following this simple 2 step plan.
- Determine the long term goal you are striving for
- Break this goal down into bite-sized chunks by setting daily or weekly goals that will ultimately guide you step by step towards achieving your bigger goal
So let's break these steps down a little further.
Determination And Your 'Why'
As step 1 in the previous section stated, you need to set some kind of long term goal. For example, if you currently weigh 110kgs, perhaps your long term goal is to reach your goal weight of 75kgs.
However, that's not enough. Just having an ultimate goal and nothing else is unlikely to get you anywhere. You're likely to just fall into the same old trap of giving up a few weeks in after your initial motivation wears off. So there needs to be something else to keep you working towards your goal. And that something is...
DETERMINATION!
And whilst it's all well and good to say that you need determination, you can only truly be determined if you have a deep-seated 'WHY' behind your goal.
There needs to be a reason as to why you want to achieve that goal; and to say something 'airy-fairy' like "oh, I just want to challenge myself and achieve it" simply isn't good enough. Instead, it needs to be something that's truly important to you.
Let's take our previous goal as an example (to reach your goal weight of 75kgs). Perhaps your deep-seated 'why' could be that you want to lose that weight so that you can reduce your risk of chronic diseases, which could, in turn, improve your quality of life and help you to live longer.
You need to have a clear 'why' before you even set your audacious long term goal. Then, when times get tough and you feel like giving up, constantly reminding yourself of your 'why' will provide you with the determination that you need to keep pushing towards your ultimate goal, well after that initial motivation has worn off.
However, having your 'why' and your long term goal often isn't enough.
Breaking Your Long Term Goal Down
Once you have your deep-seated 'why' and an ambitious long term goal, it's time to break it down into bite-sized chunks.
This is an extremely important step and something that most people don't put enough emphasis on. The problem with just having a single, large goal is that it can often lead to paralysis by analysis; that is, it seems so unattainable that you never actually properly take action. However, having smaller, short-term goals that pave the way to your ultimate goal can seem much more manageable and easier to take action on.
Think of it this way. Imagine your goal is to cross a raging river. You can stare at the river all you want and tell yourself you're going to cross it, but thinking about it isn't going to do anything; you can't exactly just leap over the river in one massive jump, and nothing will change that. However, if you focus on building stepping stones, it may take a while, but eventually, you'll find yourself on the other side of the river.
The key is to constantly win small and stack those wins in pursuit of your ultimate goal.
So let's go back to the example goal from earlier (to reach your goal weight of 75kgs). Some examples of short term goals that you could set are: 'this week I will drink 500ml more water every day', or 'this week I will add an extra 3 servings of veggies every day', or 'this week I will do 2 HIIT workouts'.
You can see how it may seem a lot more manageable to take action on goals like these, rather than your much larger, long term goal.
Setting SMART Goals
A good tip to setting good short term goals is to use the SMART framework for goal setting. You can read more about it here, but basically, S stands for specific, M stands for measurable, A stands for achievable, R stands for relevant, and T stands for time-bound.
Let's take the final example we gave ('this week I do 2 HIIT workouts'). You can see that it is specific since it clearly says what kind of workout you're going to be doing. You can see that's it's measurable since it's easy to track how many workouts you end up doing. It's also achievable, as it isn't outlandish (e.g. 14 workouts in a week). It's relevant since it will help you on your way to achieving your long term goal weight of 75kgs. Finally, it's also time-bound, as it clearly states that you have a week to do it.
Your SMART goals also need to be accompanied by a plan. Because it's one thing to set a goal, and it's another thing to actually take the necessary actions to achieve the goal. So if we continue with our example ('this week I will do 2 HIIT workouts'), we could say that we're going to do one of those workouts on Wednesday at 5pm and the other one on Friday at 8am.
Final Thoughts
Although setting goals and following through with actions can seem daunting at times, just remember the following:
Start where you are, use what you've got, do what you can.
Your goals should be completely individualised to you. This means that you should not compare your goals to anyone else's. Everyone is in a different stage of their life (and health journey), and therefore, should be setting different goals.
If you enjoyed this post, then be sure to check out my post that goes over some simple methods that you can use to calm your mind and de-stress.
As always, let me know what you thought of this post by sending me an email or DMing me on social media.
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