Redefining Success for a Healthier Year Ahead
How we define success can greatly impact our journey towards our goals
It's that time of year again when we all create new goals and resolutions to be healthier, more intentional, and better versions of ourselves. For many of us these goals fall off very quickly into the new year. This is in part to how we define success and measure progress. In a blog from last year we discussed how to set SMART goals. This year lets build upon that idea by focusing on the A of achievable.
Often when we set goals we want to reach the absolute best version of ourselves. This is a great aspiration, however if we are starting from zero we are not going to reach our aspirational self within a year, and expecting ourselves to do so is setting us up for failure. For example you are not going to go from never having worked out in your life to completing three marathons in a year. I mean, I guess if all you were doing was training you could but most of us need to continue to work, care for our family, go to school and complete other obligations.
The aspirational self is not a bad place to start thought but don’t stop there. Let's take our example of wanting to be a person who completes three marathons in a year. If we are not even up to running one mile the chances of us succeeding in reaching that goal are very slim. More likely we will give up on the goal altogether as it is unachievable. So our final destination with this goal is being in shape enough to finish three marathons in a calendar year. Let’s ask ourselves what does the year before that look like. Perhaps that year we can run two marathons. The year before that, we can do one. The year before that perhaps one or two half marathons or a half and a 10k. Okay so what if we worked on running a 5k this year in hopes that within five years we can finish three marathons in a single year.
Going from not running to doing a 5k in a year is a very doable goal. There are actually many couch to 5k workout programs focused on just this! It is also the first step towards getting yourself ready to complete three marathons. Perhaps you are saying, well my goal isn’t as unreasonable as finishing three marathons in a year I just want to earn all A’s in my classes. Okay great! Let look at how we can make any goal achievable.
If you have been struggling to earn A's, setting the expectation to earn nothing but A’s is a very high bar to clear. More reasonable and achievable would be to try and move all of your grades up. So rather than trying to get the class you have a C in to an A, work on getting it to a B and your B’s to A’s. Getting to your aspirational self will take time and it is okay to take that time.
If you have difficulty with how to break down your goals into achievable steps working with a therapist or life coach can greatly help. Your provider can help you define your goal, ensure that it is achievable given all the other events in your life and can help hold you accountable.
We want to ensure that our goals are achievable because if they are not we likely will abandon them all together and make no progress. With our marathon example if we cannot complete the three marathons we are likely to give up entirely on running. However, if we make our goal to finish a 5k that is much more achievable and allows for us to have time to grow into it during the year. An achievable goal helps to ensure that you will stick with it throughout the year.
