As a well-being coach, I help people reach their dreams by helping them feel and perform their best. And in the process, we work on setting goals that would help them achieve their dreams.
Setting goals will help you to identify what progress means to you, feel motivated and keep a more positive outlook on the future.
Goal setting is what allows your dream to become a plan and then become your new reality of living the dream.
In this blog post, I will walk you through the process of setting goals, tracking your progress and celebrating wins by building habits that will take you to your dreams.
Grab a paper and pen. And write down your dream or a result you would love to have. It can be health or well-being related, a skill or something you desire to create or have in your life.
For example,
A dream could be, to feel healthier and happier with more energy to do things and be active.
Now you will need to identify what behaviours you need to have in order to reach your dream. In other words, things you will need to do to get where you want to be to have what you want to have. For that, you will create a list of things you could do to get there. All the various possible things you could do to get closer to your dream. No action is too small. Write down even the tiniest step you could make towards your dream.
For example,
Eat more fruits
Eat more vegetables
Get more sleep
Start going to the gym
Go for walks more
Quit smoking
Stop eating sweets
Stress less
Work fewer hours
Get a dog or maybe a cat
Stop eating stupid foods and chips
Check with my doctor what’s my health
Check my blood pressure and cholesterol
Evaluate which of the possible deeds you can, want and are able to do now. Keep it real and honest when thinking of each of your list items. It’s fine if you want to do it but aren’t able to do it just yet. Or some you can do but don’t want to do. Your life situation might change or you might change your mind. Right now focus on the ones that tick both boxes.
For example,
Now evaluate the ones with both ticks. You want to think how confident you are on a scale of 1 to 10 that you could do it every day or on most days of the week for 2 weeks straight. Scoring 1 would mean “I don’t feel I can do it at all” and 9/10 – “Sure, I can do it and I will!”.
For example,
Check my blood pressure and cholesterol – 9
Eat more fruits and vegetables – 7
Drink more water – 9
Go for walks more – 9
Have at least one or a few things you feel you can nail starting today. Write down what you will be doing, when, and how often each of the weeks. Make the task more refined and clear so you can already visualize it fitting into the flow of your day.
For example,
I will call my doctor for a blood test referral tomorrow and do the blood work on Friday next week.
I will drink 3 more big half-pint glasses a day every day.
I will go for a minimum of 30 minutes walk after dinner on Tuesdays, Thursdays, or one day over the weekend.
Perfect! In this case, pick one or max two things you will be doing for the next 2 weeks. Or something you will get done in the next 2 weeks’ time. I suggest you choose one that you want to do the most, one that seems more fun or easier to do.
For example,
I will call my doctor for a blood test referral tomorrow and do the blood work on Friday next week.
I will drink 3 more big half-pint glasses a day every day.
Keep going! You’re almost done with setting the first goal behaviour that will take you to your dream. Think of the intentions which will help you get on with the new habit. Create a more detailed set of intentional actions you will take that will help you to succeed. It will help you to be clear about what and when will need to be done for your new habit to happen.
For example,
I will call my doctor for a blood test referral tomorrow and do the blood work on Friday next week.
Possible intentions:
I will check the online call-in hours of my doctor tomorrow.
I will set a reminder for the specific time and have my doctor’s number saved in it.
I will check the times when the closest laboratory is open.
I will block a time slot in my calendar for the next Friday morning for visiting the laboratory.
Great! Now decide how you are going to hold yourself accountable and how you will track that you are doing what you said you are going to do. You can ask someone to keep you accountable. A friend who can call you out if you start slacking or who is always cheering and supporting even when you get all defensive and grumpy.
Think about how you will track and record when you’ve completed tasks. It can be as simple as a tick in your calendar or on your phone in the notes app. Alternatively, you could use one of many habit-tracking apps like Golify or Habit Coach which will also allow setting reminders and notifications.
Stick to practising your new habit for 2 weeks and after evaluate how consistent you have been at it. Look at the data you’ve been tracking and collecting over the 2 weeks. Have you managed to complete your tasks 80-100% of the time?
Celebrate your wins of being consistent! You are ready for the next task. Go back to the initial list you made. And see which of the tasks you are now willing and able to do for the next 2 weeks. Keep adding a new task every 2 weeks only if you can complete and stay consistent 80% of the time.
Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t managed to stick to it yet. Re-evaluate what worked and what didn’t work out over the past 2 weeks.
Check how confident you feel from 1 to 10 to keep practising this task for the next 2 weeks. If you still feel like 9 on the confidence scale. See the coaching tips and use one of the 3 strategies to help succeed.
If you think that the task might be too challenging for you. Rewrite by breaking it down, and adjusting difficulty and frequency. You will be expecting yourself to practice it till you feel like you can do it 9 or 10 on the confidence scale. Check my coaching tips and give a new adjusted task a go for the next 2 weeks.
You might feel that the task is not the one you want and can do right now. Pick a different one you want and can do it from the initial list. Follow through with steps and coaching tips to set yourself up for success this time.
Anticipate the roadblocks or “life-happens” days, and have an alternative plan around or so-called “plan-B” to get the tasks done. You write down a couple of scenarios starting sentences with what if … then I will …
Example,
What if the doctor won’t answer my call, I will set a reminder for a later time to call him. If he doesn’t respond to both of my calls. I will call his secretary to arrange to speak to him.
What if I forget my water bottle at home, I will get a plastic bottle from the coffee shop and keep refilling it throughout the day.
What if I have a crazy day and forget to drink water at the office, I will drink water on arrival at home, before and after dinner to make up for the day.
Connect your new task with an already existing habit that you do without thinking. You will have a greater likelihood of success if they are tied to something else you already do consistently.
For example,
I will drink my first glass of water right after I brush my teeth in the morning.
I will drink the second cup of water before I head to have lunch or before I prepare my lunch when working from a home office.
I will drink a glass of water as soon as I come home before I change my clothes.
Practice the “If it takes 5 minutes or less, I’m doing it now” rule. It helps to get quick and easy tasks out of the way before they become out-of-my-head and never-done ones.
For example,
Call a doctor or her secretary now instead of tomorrow.
Check working hours now.
Set a reminder now, so you get it done later.
Changing the way you live and going for your dream can take time or sometimes seem way far out to even reach it. This is why breaking it into smaller tasks helps you see and practice behaviours that will take you closer to where you want to be.
I will use the analogy of running a marathon which can only be done one step at a time till the finish line. Before even attempting to run it, one will train for it by doing smaller distances, in the same way, one step at a time.
Celebrate every small 2-week achievement and keep going for your dreams. Because our dreams can only be reached and celebrated by having good health and well-being.
I’m always here to support your well-being journey.
