Think about where you are now. Now think about where you want to be in one month. Now what about a year? What do you need to do to get to each of those points? Unsure? Well when I sit down and I think about where I want to be in each of those steps, I have a few small goals for each. Why? Because it means I will actually achieve them. Confused? I will explain further below.
Why set goals?
Setting goals, even daily goals, means you are thinking and structuring what you want to achieve in that time frame. We all do it subconsciously on small things (or big things like staying alive each day.) But when it comes to really serious goals like health, fitness, or even financially/ work having a structured and sometimes visual goal can help to achieve it.
For mental health, setting goals is 100% needed for accomplishing things. For me, having a weekly goal, and then a point in which I want to achieve it by, means I will see a purpose for it. There have been so many times I have created a goal and months later forgotten about it. But having a visual accountability of the goal means I will actually try to get it done.
What goals could I set?
Setting goals need to be specific and achievable. Setting a goal like "I want to loose 50kg in 2 weeks" well 1. it isn't achievable, and 2. it isn't healthy! You need to think about what you really want to achieve, and even break it down into smaller increments. Here is an example:
Main goal: I want to lose 15kgs.
Break that down...
Monthly goal: 3-4kgs lost
Weekly goal: 1-2kgs lost
This is achievable. Weight loss is always a goal for people. Well not always... But mostly is. There are other goals you can choose. They could be:
Health (eating)
Fitness (+weight loss)
Selfcare
Mental Health
Family (time together)
Work (certain amount of work or product made etc.)
Goals can be based on any aspect of your life that you want to improve, fix, or achieve.
How can I achieve the goal?
Where people fail, myself included, when setting goals is to create a goal and then not think about what I would need to do to achieve it. This is where we break the goal down into smaller increments.
For instance: I want to achieve 1 kg lost in a week. What do I need to look at? Diet, exercise and even sleeping habits. The goals could be:
10000 Steps a day
2L of water a day
In bed at 9pm every night. Up at 7am every morning.
These three seem a challenge or easy? If you can achieve each one easily, add another. E.g. Gym 3 times a week. My suggestion is starting small. Pick at most 3 goals. Try achieving them each week. Reflect at the end of the week. If you have achieved them easily, add another the next week. Keep at it!
Where do I start?
This question comes up so much. When I ask someone what their goal is, they can usually give me something they want to achieve. But then the question comes... "Where do I start?" Here is my biggest suggestion.
Write down your goal. Even get a goal book. By writing down the goal you can visualise it.
Think of 3 things you need to do to achieve that goal each week.
Think of things that are stopping you, and how you could overcome them. (e.g. time? Look at ways to rearrange your day to fit it in. Could you get up earlier or fit it in on way home from work?)
Visualise the goal. We have a whiteboard for our goals that we tick each night. You could have something on your phone to remind you.
Accountability. This can be as big or as little as you need. You might take photos on your phone each time you achieve the goal. You may blog about it. You may create an instagram page. You could even have family and friends checking in on you. Anything that keeps you accountable for your goal.
My Goals
I have created my weekly goals in order to achieve my overall goal. My overall goals are to have my mental health in check, loose 15kgs in 6 months and to have an engaged audience on my blog and instagram. See my goals cover a few things.
Here are my weekly goals:
Gym 3 days a week
Blog 3 days a week
2L water every day
Yoga every day
As I said earlier I have my goals written on a whiteboard. I am wanting to perfect these even more to have a proper guideline as to how I achieve the goal and narrow it down more. The past few weeks I haven't achieved the goals as such. But for each time I don't, I reflect on how I can achieve it the next week.
Needing some help? Try using the template below. This is the structure we have on our whiteboard. Write each goal in each space. Tick under each day when you achieve your goal. If you need some reminding, add your main goals at the bottom. Remember to tag me in photos of you using it so I can see!
Any questions? Comment on the post and I am happy to answer.
Comments