Goal Setting: The good, the bad and the unachievable
As clichéd as it may be, the New Year is a good time to reflect on what has been and to look to the future and plan how we want to move forward. However, some data shows that up to 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by the second week of Feb and a lot of people avoiding goal setting altogether. Do we really need to set goals? In this blog, we’re looking at some common issues and how to fix them.
Issue: Accountability – not being held accountable to our goals means an easy way out when we want to quit.
The Fix: Tell someone, post it somewhere, give yourself a reason not to quit! Weekly check-ins with a friend or posting updates on social media can be a way to keep on track
Issue: Un-measurable – Not really knowing how far you’ve come or when you’ve reached your goal can make it too easy to avoid, and motivation can slide downwards when you can’t track your progress
The Fix: Make sure your goals are measurable! For example, If you want to become ‘more flexible’ – how will you track this? Give yourself a clear starting point by doing some flexibility tests and then speak to an instructor about a realistic time frame to improve and by how much.
Issue: Un-realistic – No one is saying not to set yourself challenging goals, however, make sure you have a clear plan on how you are going to get there. Making them too challenging or putting them on a dream list tends to end up with them rolling on the next year’s list…and the next years…and so on.
The Fix: Give yourself a time frame and make sure you’ve done the groundwork and research into what it will take to get there.
Issue: Life! Our lives are busy, we get thrown curve balls, and we’re human. Goal setting is great for productivity, but the last thing we want is to end up feeling like we’ve failed or felt so under pressure than we end up not enjoying what we set out to do.
The Fix: Give yourself goal posts to work between (excuse the pun…), but also give yourself wide enough goal posts to keep happy and healthy!
Added Tips for Goal Setting:
- Give yourself self-care goals as well as physical goals. Like adding 10min daily meditation practice or less phone time.
- Ask yourself why? When writing goals – add in ‘why’ – this will help you to understand your motivation behind it and go a long way in helping you achieve it.
- Short/Medium/Long Term – Lots of long-term goals can lose momentum after a while, so breaking them up into more manageable chunks will help you to feel like you are progressing and keep your enthusiasm up
To summarise - should you be setting goals? It's completely up to you! It varies massively between different personalities, so whether your making lists and planning ahead or happy to go with the flow - enjoy the journey and hope 2019 is a happy and healthy year
Xx
