health goals

Studies have shown that goals that are either easy or difficult to reach provide more motivation than goals with moderate difficulty levels. The belief that a goal is impossible, however, actually decreases performance as well. Choose S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Whether it’s quitting smoking, exercising more or making healthier meal choices, setting realistic and specific health goals is your first step.

Specific Goals

Setting a very general health goal is counterproductive—if your goal is to lose weight, you are much less likely to achieve it or even stick with it at all, than if your goal is to lose 10 pounds by your next birthday, or by your friend’s upcoming wedding. In addition, saying things like “I want to eat healthier” or “I want to eliminate stress from my life” is far too general.

Measurable

Find a way to measure your progress toward your goal. Record your goal and put it in a place where you will see it regularly, such as on the bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator or on your desk at work. Check in with yourself regularly to measure progress toward your goal—if your goal is to consume a certain number of calories per day, keep a journal of calorie intake so you can monitor your progress.

Attainable

After setting a goal, plan how you will reach it. If it is a large goal, there may be many steps to complete and phases to go through before you reach your ultimate goal. Going in without a plan will not help you reach that goal—do some research so you know what you need to do and how to do it.

Realistic

Don’t set impossible expectations for yourself. It may benefit you to set goals in smaller pieces—when you reach one goal, set another, and eventually you will make it to your long-term goal. Starting with small goals and working up to the larger ones may also help your motivation—the feelings of success you’ll experience as you achieve the smaller goals will give you motivation to push yourself further.

Timely

Give yourself a sense of urgency—“I will lose 10 pounds before my friend’s wedding” rather than, “It would be nice to lose 10 pounds.” Setting a date or time frame in which to complete your goal may help you get in the right mindset to actually achieve the goal. Make sure you’re setting realistic time frames, however, so you don’t just write the goal off as impossible.

Set goals to accomplish what you’ve been meaning to do for years—don’t hold yourself back.

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