Setting goals

For most people, the beginning of a new year is a reason to set new goals. I want to work out more, drink more water, read more, and read more, but often by now, in February, a lot of these goals are already forgotten. Having a goal is great, but actually reaching the goal feels way better and we all know that. Still, a lot of people only set a goal.

What can we do to make sure that we reach our goals?

First, start off by making clear for yourself why you want to reach a certain goal. The why of your goal is important. Do you want to work out because you know it makes you feel good or do you want to do it for somebody else? If you do it for yourself the chances are way bigger that you are actually going to do it.

Second, take a closer look at your goal. Is your goal realistic? I really want to run a marathon. In theory, this is a realistic goal. I already run and there are more people on this planet that run marathons. So, you would say this is a realistic goal, but it depends on when I want to run this marathon. If I want to do this next month the goal isn’t realistic anymore. There is no way that I can train for a marathon in one month. And, because I know this will be nearly impossible, the chances are very high that I’m not even going to try. The same goes for wanting to work out more. If I never work out and my goal is to work out 5 times a week, there is a big chance that in the beginning, I find it way too hard to work out 5 times a week and I quit altogether.

We need not make our goals more outlined. I want to work out more. What is more? And what is realistic? A goal needs to be challenging, but not so challenging that we are never going to reach it. If I want to run a marathon I need a training plan and slowly increase in miles and speed. So we need to make little steps towards our goal, Sub-goals. Not only do these sub-goals feel way more within reach, but as soon as we reach these steps in between we get renewed motivation to reach for our main goal.

Also, the chance is very big that somewhere in the process you're going to fail. You are going to miss a workout or life happens and maybe you forget the goal for a week. How you act when this happens is a big part of reaching goals. Essentially there are two options, you quit or you just pick up where you left off. We are humans and we fail. The important part is that after we fall, we get back up again. Take a closer look at why it happened and try to avoid it, but sometimes it is just out of our control. Be nice to yourself and get back up again.

Accountability works also great. Let someone know that you are trying to reach a goal. Maybe even ask them to check in on your goal sometimes. Believe me, it is way harder to skip a workout when you know someone is going to ask about it and, at the same time if people know about your goals you have people to celebrate with when you reach them.

It is so important to celebrate when you reach your sub-goals and goals, be proud of yourself!

Good luck and if you need help with setting and reaching your goals, you know where to find me.