Effective Goal Setting
Effective Goal Setting
Another common reflection I hear is around the struggle to feel a sense of progress towards goals once identified, or a sense that our attempts are pointless. What we often find when exploring this further is that the goals we set for ourselves are too vague, open-ended or impossible to measure. A common example of this is when we say to ourselves “I want to lose weight”. As a goal, this is incredibly difficult to use productively – what is my actual target? How do I measure progress? How am I planning on achieving it?
Instead I encourage you to explore this from the approach of setting ‘SMART’ goals. That is, goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. Using the example
above, a SMART goal would instead be “I want to lose 10kg in the next 3 months in order to improve my health and sense of wellbeing, and I will do it according to the following steps (1, 2, 3…)”. This goal, now, is Specific and Measurable (10kg of lost weight), it is arguably Achievable, it is Relevant in terms of my bigger goals (health and wellbeing), and it is Time-based (3 months). I also have a concrete plan as to how I aim to reach the target, such as walking 3 times a week, reducing takeaway meals to once a week, and so forth. This goal has a better chance for success overall.
One final thought on the steps to achieving the goal. Oftentimes we can set a plan that is also unrealistic, such as going from no exercise to weight training at the gym 6 days a week, running 5 days a week, and so forth. This can set us up to fail unless we are one of those extraordinary individuals who are super achievers. Instead, we may have a better chance of success if we start with the smallest achievable step or plan, say running once a week and gym once a week. If even this ends up being unworkable, we go back a further step. If we have success implementing this approach, we can step it up to the next level. This way we can keep the plan manageable while working towards an achievable goal.
More next time!