Setting a personal course for healthy habit change
At various points of our lives, we feel compelled to push hit the “reset” button. Maybe It’s Jan. 1, or the day after a vacation. Or it could be a random Tuesday when you just know the time is right.
During these periods, we reflect and consider the ways we want to grow. And perhaps then we craft new goals, be they professional, personal or health-related.
But goal-setting can be tricky. Some people are inclined to choose large and complex goals, which are often too big and too complex — unattainable. Others don’t set goals at all. These two extremes can provide insights in how to formulate goals somewhere in the middle. These goals may well be challenging, but they’re also realistic and attainable. These are goals that, once achieved, make a meaningful difference in our lives.
Big goal people tend to be highly driven and accomplished. They also tend to breeze over their wins, or move the goalposts on themselves when they succeed faster or more easily than expected. They may feel that the wins they’ve accrued are never not quite enough.
In the context of health, big goal people are often optimizers — they seek perfection in what they eat or how they exercise. They often embrace technology to track health metrics, such as macronutrients, heart rate, sleep quality and the like. These tools offer value in certain contexts — sometimes I recommend them to clients — but when folks get laser-focused on chasing specific numbers, they often forget to look inward to ask themselves what they’re actually hungry for, what type of exercise they feel like today, or if they’re tired and need a nap.
By contrast, there are people who set few if any goals. They don’t think about it, or they are unsure about how to set realistic goals. Non-goal people may be quite productive but embrace a spontaneous and go-with-the-flow mentality. Others don’t set goals because they have their head down, tunneling through their to-do lists. Or they are simply afraid of failing.
But by not setting goals we miss opportunities for achieving hard things. That’s growth. And we also miss out on the string of challenging moments along the way. Also growth.
When it comes to crafting goals, being both specific and realistic is key, as is seen in the SMART Goal framework, a time-tested tool for guiding goal setting. SMART goals are…
Specific: who, what, when, where and why
Measurable: outcomes can be quantified
Achievable: challenging but realistic to achieve
Relevant: align with personal motivations and values
Time-bound: a timeframe is set which helps with accountability
The SMART goal framework, created for use in business, is helpful in many contexts. However, it misses a critical element of health goals: habit change.
If you’re remodeling your house or working toward an academic degree, you have a series of task-related steps to execute. Health goals also have tactical steps, but they often require a whole lot of mental work to get started and stay committed.
In my 3-month program, I will help you create or adjust your health goals so that they’re realistic and doable, and I’ll provide you with support and tools to make habit change happen and stick.
Below are a few of my favorite habit-changing suggestions, derived from Atomic Habits by James Clear, my favorite resource in the habit realm.
Choose a goal(s) that align with your identity, or who you wish to become (i.e. someone with more energy, or who can hike a 14-er, or who feels less anxious).
Choose small steps toward your goal, celebrate your wins and see them as proof you are becoming the person above.
Surround yourself with people who have a healthy lifestyle or share similar goals.
I’ll add another tip as you decide on your next goal — listen. Listen to yourself, to your intuition. Listen to nature. Open your heart and mind to the signs around you that are nudging you toward something beautiful.
