Setting goals for ourselves helps to promote mental well-being, especially so when we are able to complete them. An open-minded approach to setting our goals to promote belief in ourselves, faith and hope for the future may give us the courage to reach a little higher. Setting goals does not have to be difficult if you follow the road map I am going to give you. Some of you may have used this approach for a work project in the past, it works equally well when we apply it to our personal lives as well.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound.
If you can define these attributes it will help you to be clearer on what it is you want to achieve and give you some insight into what success will mean for you.
An example of a SMART goal is:
My goal is to lose 5kg by Easter weekend. I will accomplish this goal by walking for 30 minutes each day and keeping a food diary to remind myself of portion sizes and snacks. When I accomplish my goal I will buy myself a new pair of jeans.
Let’s get started, S is for specific, this is where you decide what you want to achieve, who is going to be responsible for my to achieve it (I, my family, my football team) and what steps or processes are needed to be successful.
Questions: What do I want to do? Who is driving this goal? What are the steps and processes that I need to complete?
M is for measurable and this is to help us, not only, to know what we want but also to give us a success point.
A is for Achievable and here you give yourself a serious reality check. Goals should be realistic and you need to know that you can achieve them. Ask yourself this: is your goal something that you have the tools to achieve right now? Or do I need to put things in place first? If the answer to the second question is yes, then make it a goal to achieve that first.
R is for Relevant, and here is where you need to think about the big picture. Why are you setting this goal?
T is for Time-Bound, all goals need a completion date. Think of this as a goal post, be brave and use this deadline for motivation to summon the courage and strength to complete your goal, this is about trusting yourself to achieve.
Example: (R)I have not been very energetic lately and get puffed just going to the mailbox to get the mail, so I want to give up eating all (M) fast foods and drinks, I will do this by making my own lunch every day and limiting the takeaway coffee I drink(A) to one cup per day. I will not spend money on extra fast foods during the day(S). I have heard that it takes 21 days to create or break a habit, I will achieve this goal by the 13th of February 2023(T)
Are you ready to set your goals? What are the goals you would like to achieve over the next week? month? or year?
