How To Set Goals You’ll Actually Achieve In 2019

It’s the time of year where everyone jumps on board with resolutions to lose weight, eat healthy and exercise more. But come February, many are back to their old ways.

New Year resolutions are often just good intentions. But without some solid planning to make them reality, they fall to the side within weeks.

Everyone sets health goals, particularly around this time. But what is the difference between someone who achieves those goals and someone who gives up on them?

Learn your goal setting type

Before you set a goal, you want to know what kind of goal setter – and goal achiever – you are. Do you tend to overestimate your abilities, and feel crushed when you don’t succeed? Or do big goals inspire you to stretch yourself?

There is no right or wrong answer. I fall into the category of overwhelmed and disappointed if I don’t achieve my goals. Personally, I’ve worked out that setting 3 main goals for the Year (I don’t believe that goals need to be set on January 1st, they can be set at any time)……. And then I break those goals into smaller more manageable chunks or monthly goals. That way, I don’t feel so overwhelmed. For me overwhelm is paralysing and I procrastinate and therefore don’t get anything done. So, personally I’ve worked out that smaller goals or baby steps get me towards my goals.

By understanding how goals motivate or deter you, you can be clearer on the type of goal you want to set.

Get clear on your why

Setting a goal is great. But if you don’t know why you’ve set it, you’re likely to drop it whenever life gets tough. Sometimes, we set goals because of what society thinks, or because our friends or partner makes a comment about our weight or fitness.

We’re more likely to stick to goals that are made based on internal motivators – things like how we feel and what we want from our lives – rather than external motivators, like peer pressure or an ideal appearance. When you set a goal, think about why you want that goal. Will you feel more energetic/confident? Is your driver to run around with your kids at the park? I’ve been a Personal Trainer for 14 years and one of the most common things I hear is……I don’t have the motivation to exercise or I lost my motivation. Motivation isn’t an external thing that you get from others. It comes from within. Motivation comes from your why. When it is dark and cold at 530am in the morning and your alarm goes off for the gym…… it isn’t any external thing (called motivation) that gets you out of bed. It’s the reason why you want to achieve your goal. It’s the “I want to be able to run around with my kids at the park’ or ‘I want to feel sexy naked with my husband’……that gets you out of bed. I encourage you to look at the reasons why you want to achieve your goals. That’s where the real power lies.

Make it flexible, but targeted

It is important to put a timeframe on goals – if you say you’re going to lose 6kgs in 3 months, it is always going to get pushed back. But if you say you’re going to do it by the 9th April, it’s a hard date. You’ll either achieve it or you won’t.

That being said, life happens. You might set a goal to lose 10kgs in 5 months, but then after a few weeks, you injure your foot. All of a sudden, that goal is almost impossible to achieve because of lost progress. So make sure you add in a bit of buffer time, especially if you’re likely to come up against a busy period at work etc.

How do you eat an elephant?

The answer is ‘one bite at a time’. Don’t worry, you don’t need to eat an elephant, but you do need to look at big goals the same way. When something seems overwhelming, breaking it down into bite-size goals makes it easier to start taking action.

For example, say your goal is to lose 8kgs. For you to lose 8kgs in 2 months might seem impossible. But if you broke it down into mini steps of 1kg a week or 4 sessions a week of training, you could achieve your goal by doing that mini goal 8 times.

Do you need personalised support to achieve your goals in 2019? Then I can help.

I have recently added a new consultation type called Health Coaching. This is slightly different to our traditional naturopathic consultations and includes more goal setting and strategy setting rather than meal planning and treatment protocols. It’s more about guiding you to find the answers to help you achieve your health, fitness and fat loss goals. It taps more into my Personal Training background and the consults can be done over the phone, in our health clinic in Marrickville or if you are local to the inner-west sydney then a local cafe. Book Now with Denise Harvey

For more tips on self-care and wellbeing, download your free E-Book ‘10 Things you can do to feel energised and on Track with your Health.’

Dee x