Often we can find ourselves in a continual cycle of setting goals and a few months later being no closer to achieving them. Your goal could be reducing a dress size, running 5km for the first time or being able to squat your bodyweight. These are outcome goals which focus on the end result rather than the actions required. Outcome goals are necessary but alone will not get you to where you want to be.
The missing part are behaviour goals which focus on the processes and steps needed to reach our outcome goal. It’s important to choose only 1-2 behaviour goals to work on at one time. When we try to make too many changes at once it can reduce our chance of success.
Let's look at how to be successful at behaviour goals:
Be specific
Identify exactly what you will do, how often and for how long.
For example, setting a goal of walking more is too general. It would be more specific to have a goal of walking for 20 minutes 5 days a week
Frequency
We are more successful creating new behaviors/habits when we do them regularly i.e. every day rather than only a couple of times a week.
Confidence
You want to be very confident that you can achieve the goal. Aim for a 9-10 out of 10 on the confidence scale. This means the habit you’re aiming to develop is realistic and achievable. If you are at a level of 8 or below for confidence then adjust the goals so it is more manageable. Starting small is key.
For example, for someone who rarely eats vegetables, having three types of vegetables with every evening meal might be desirable, but not reflect where they are at the moment. When they don’t feel confident that they can achieve this, it’s very unlikely to happen. Initially it would be more realistic to set a goal of having one vegetable with each evening meal. Once they have established that behaviour they can build on it.
Create a routine around the goal
What are you already doing that you could link to the new behaviour? Having a routine acts as reinforcement and will help you be successful. If your goal is to increase your water intake, then you could have a glass of water each day with your breakfast.
Track
Keeping track of your new behaviour is key and helps with motivation. You could set up a daily task in your calendar or have a chart on your fridge.
Evaluate
After a couple of weeks consider how successful you have been at creating the new behaviour. If it hasn’t worked for you, then look at the reasons why and create a behaviour goal that is more manageable.
Good luck with your goal setting. If you need more help with this, please get in touch.
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