Setting Goals
Last Updated on March 22, 2022 by admin
Let’s face it – the heart is willing, but the body is weak. In this age of ubiquitous technology, it’s so much easier to distract ourselves from what’s right in front of us. Whether it’s your social media push notifications, the latest TikTok video, or an email from your boss. Because of this, any time we hope to make any substantial change in our lives, we can become almost frozen in place, not knowing where to start.
Setting life goals is a way to get off on the right foot. If you are hoping to meet some goals this year, it can be helpful to look at life in Spiritual, Physical, Mental, and Emotional domains. Drawing from Indigenous wisdom, these four domains are in continuous interaction, and we need balance in these four aspects of our being to experience wellness.
A good way of keeping track of our goals is, for each category, (a) taking an honest look at our current state (Current), (b) making note of what we would like (Goals), (c) identifying what we are doing well (Progress), and (d) identifying attitudes or actions that needs changing (Change).
Take the Emotional domain for example. Considering the pandemic and sporadic lockdowns, what type of emotions am I experiencing (Current)? Depleting emotions (typically known as “negative’ emotions like anger, anxiety, resentment)? Renewing emotions (typically known as “positive” emotions like happiness, love, appreciation)? What type of emotions would I like to experience more (Goals)? When do I experience moments of renewing emotions (Progress)? What are some attitudes or actions that get in the way of experiencing more renewing emotions (Change)? With this in mind, I could set a goal to be more present and intentional in the Emotional domain of my being.
Another strategy to keeping ourselves focused on our goals it to be “SMART” with our goals. Making sure that the goals we set are Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely is one way to keep us on track and brings us closer to reaching them. Say, the goal is to lose 20 lbs by going to the gym:
| Specific | Can we specify how often I will be hitting the gym? For how long? What type of exercise will I be doing? I will be going to the gym for 45 minutes four times a week to lift weights. |
| Manageable | Considering how busy and hectic my life is, is the goal manageable? I will be going to the gym 45 minutes twice a week to lift weights. |
| Achievable | What is an achievable timeline to lose 20 lbs? I will aim to lose 1lb per week. |
| Realistic | Changing your entire lifestyle and diet in the span of a few days isn’t realistic, but slowly incorporating healthier diet alternatives might be a better goal to set for ourselves. I can cut back on the amount of pop I drink from 2 cans a day to 1 daily then 0 over the span of 20 weeks. |
| Timely | And finally, do you have a timeframe you were hoping to achieve your goal by? Having a realistic deadline might be a way to keep yourself accountable in achieving your fitness goal! I will take 20 weeks to lose 20 lbs. |
Of course, you might want to focus more on one category than another! The good thing about setting goals is that it’s a highly personal, and highly customizable way to start making changes. As long as the goals that are set are SMART, you’ll slowly start to see your life and your self inching closer towards your goals.
A final note: Use this time to develop some self-compassion. It’s almost second nature for people to blame ourselves for things not working out the way we had hoped. But recovery and change is a long, yet rewarding process. It’s completely normal to experience failure, and you may even feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps back. As long as you keep taking those steps forward, things can only get better from here.