Many companies take advantage of our insecurities, especially
at this time of year, and I get sick of hearing how I can lose x amount of
weight without changing my lifestyle, simply by buying a magical product.
I really like setting goals, and I like the idea of everyone
being prompted to reflect on what they want to accomplish in the next year, all
at the same time.
My three pieces of advice are:
- Write Outcome Goals and Process Goals.
- Tell at least one person about your goal. Even better - have them work towards similar goal.
- Put goals in a visible place and check in to see progress.
Outcome and Process Goal-Setting
As a
society, we talk a lot more about outcome goals, meaning the exact
accomplishment we would live to achieve after hard work. We learn these goals should be SMART
(specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). This past year I made a goal of wanting to PR
in the 1500m and the steeplechase during the 2016 track season. I was able to PR in the 1500m by 5 seconds,
but fell 10 seconds short of setting a new best in the steeplechase.
What
folks often think less about the steps they have to take to achieve outcome
goals. Process goals are about the
things you are going to do to set yourself up to achieve your outcome
goal. I came up with a lot of process
goals for the 2016 track season including stretching for 20 minutes 5x per week
and getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night. These goals were much more flexible for me. They
served as guides for how I wanted to live while pursing my dreams. Getting enough sleep each night wasn’t in and
of itself a difficult goal for me, but it was part of what I needed to do to
race well.
Tell Someone
I
believe I have a fair amount of self-discipline, but it’s funny how easily I can
allow myself to binge-eat Oreos when I haven’t told anyone about my goal of
eating a balanced diet and minimizing processed foods. Last year, when I told my family and close friends
I was cutting out desserts and alcohol going into the Olympic Trials, it was
almost impossible to break my goal because they would have called me out. Even more helpful was my fiancé was kind
enough to join me in my goal, so I didn’t have to watch him enjoying all my
favorite things while I tried to stay strong.
Visibility
Lofty
goals can include a lot of moving pieces; I’ve found that when I write down my
goals, and put them in a visible place, I’m more likely check in with my
process and outcome goals to see how I’m doing.
In the future I want to try setting aside time, maybe twice a month, to
reflect on my progress, and if I need to add, tweak, release any goals.