SMART Goals
It’s easy when you’re thinking about your health to set BIG, vague goals. “I want to be less anxious.” That’s a good thing to want, but figuring out how to do that will quickly become overwhelming unless you get to the root of what’s causing the anxiety and come up with some small, simple habits to move you away from it. When we work together, we develop a health plan with SMART goals.
What are SMART Goals?
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-bound. The SMART framework has been around for awhile, but I love using it when developing your health plan because it helps both of us design something achievable.
How do I set SMART Goals for health?
Don’t design for outcome, e.g. weight loss. Instead, design for behaviors that lead to outcome. Every action in your health plan will be measured against this metric:
Specific: This means we won’t say, “eat more vegetables”, which is vague and tends not to happen. We might say, “I’ll pick up a bag of carrots when I shop Thursday and I’ll have a carrot everyday at lunch.”
Measurable: Did you eat a carrot 5 out of 7 days? When you drink fennel and chamomile tea after a meal does your gas go away?
Action-oriented: Not “I want to be less anxious.” Yes to, “I will do walking meditation whenever I go up the stairs at work.”
Realistic: I hate to quote Weight Watchers but “The exercise that is most effective is the one that you do.” This is where we tailor actions specifically to your life.
Time-bound: We’ll set a time frame in which the measurable results should occur. If the results are achieved-Great! If not, what’s not working and how can it be adjusted?
It’s time to set your own SMART goals for health! Set up a free consultation today to get started.
