Setting Abundant Health Goals
As we roll into March, we often start to feel off track from the health goals we set for ourselves in the New Year. You may have muscled through January, but then February hits with a triple whammy! The Superbowl, valentines day, and so many cold days that make us want to just eat warm comfort food under a blanket. None of these things have us reaching for a salad.
Falling off your New Year’s health goals is totally normal! And no, you didn’t fall off the wagon because you lack willpower or motivation or whatever ugly thing you may say about yourself. The problem with so many health goals is that we measure our worth and success on attaining those goals and if we don’t, we feel like we are a failure and not deserving.
What if I told you that YOU are not the problem? Your goals are! There may be many reasons why you are no longer on track for your New Year’s goal, but one of the main reasons may be that you didn’t set abundant goals!
Have your health goals focused on the things you want to fix that are “wrong” with you? Do your goals require you to exercise a ton of willpower to resist, limit, or restrain? It doesn’t have to be that way. Your goals can feel abundant rather than restrictive, setting you up for a greater chance of success from the beginning.
But how do I set abundant goals? How are they different from regular health goals? What even ARE abundant goals?!
I will cover as much as I can here! Today I’ll help you:
Understand Abundant Goals and Making Your Goals Feel Like Gifts
Dig into the “WHY” behind your goals
Set SMART goals with an eye towards abundance
Make Your Goals Feel Like Gifts
Imagine setting a goal that feels like a gift when you achieve it. No more goals focused on “fixing” things that are “wrong” with you. But instead, setting goals that give you more of the greatness of you! Health goals that feel meaningful and expansive! One of my favorite authors on this subject, Tara Mohr, talks about setting gift goals. A gift goal is a goal that feels like a true, gorgeous, exciting gift to yourself. These abundant gift goals bring you closer to yourself! These goals may also feel a bit scary (but very exciting!) because they make you want to wake up and keep going. It’s a goal that you set not because you feel like you “should” nor a goal you need to achieve in order to gain acceptance or belonging. No, it’s a goal you set to give yourself a gift because you want to. It’s the kind of goal that feels expansive and makes you feel more alive!
Not sure how to start? Take a goal that you are trying to accomplish right now. Is it losing weight? Reframe that goal into an abundance mindset. Instead of “I want to lose weight to look good” (or whatever your reason is), try reframing it as “I want to eat more nourishing food that provides me with more energy so I can keep up with the kids!” Or “I love the way I feel when I start the morning with a good sweat, and I’d like to give myself that awesome feeling more often.” See how simply reframing the health goals from restrictive to abundant language makes it feel more like a gift to you? How you feel about tackling the goal can make a huge difference in whether you stick to it. Reach out if you have some questions about this; I’d love to help you with it.
Now that you are thinking about reframing your goals to be more abundant, let’s talk about another key piece of goal setting–understanding your “why.”
Know Your Why
So maybe around the New Year you set a goal to lose weight or to start meditating. Why? Did you decide to lose weight because you hate the way your body looks? Did you set a goal to meditate because you think you should, because they say it's good for you? Whoever “they” are. No wonder you are struggling to stick with your health goal. The “why” comes from a place of “shame” or “should”--those are not very motivating “whys.” Your brain is wired to eat that donut and NOT to sit still for 5 minutes focusing on your breath. If you are going to overcome that natural wiring, the “why” behind your goal has to be stronger than all of your hardwiring working against you. To stick to a goal even when you don't really want to at some moments, you must deeply connect to your "why." It needs to be meaningful for you. Setting goals that are built on a strong, personal "why" that you can remind yourself of when looking at that donut, will help a lot.
The best illustration of this I’ve seen is this short advertisement that I strongly encourage you to watch:
The grandfather knew the deeply personal “why” of his goals before he ever started moving toward it. He got up super early, ignored people’s questioning gazes, and kept pushing forward. And at the end, we all got to see him and his family realize the gift he was working toward. Can you anchor your health goals to a “why” this meaningful?
Setting SMART Goals
I know, I know, the dreaded SMART goals. But seriously, I promise they will feel different if you first do the work to frame your goals from a place of abundance and connect with your very meaningful why. Look at setting these SMART goals as planning your gifts to yourself. Creating smart, effective goals can help you stay motivated and committed to attaining abundant goals. As you may have learned in some company training, a SMART goal is a goal that is specific, measurable, actionable, relevant/realistic, and timely. Let’s go through each letter and discuss what it means for setting your health goals:
S (SPECIFIC): When setting specific goals, make sure you: identify the steps involved, who is involved, how this will feel like a gift to yourself, potential hurdles, and you’re WHY! Take a minute and think about the goals you’re creating, feel free to leave and come back while making your goals. Write down your goal and identify the steps listed above. Don’t move on until you get really specific here, including writing down lots of specificity about your “why.”
M (MEASURABLE) Once you have your specific health goal, figure out how you can measure and track results. What markers can you use to know whether you are on the right track? How will you know if you have achieved your goal? If you’re trying to eat healthier and your why is to get more energy, how are you going to track it? Are you going to keep a journal of your progress? Or record daily how tired you feel at certain times of day? How you measure your goals is completely unique to you!
A (ATTAINABLE) You want your goal to be enough of a stretch to motivate you but not be completely out of reach! Not sure if your goal is attainable? Ask yourself these questions! Will you feel challenged? How close is this goal to the line of reality? Are you willing to commit to the work and sacrifices that may be required? If you want to exercise for 2 hours a day 5 days a week for example is this a goal that is realistic? If you have kids and a full schedule, it might now be realistic! And that is ok! Start where you are with what you can realistically do in light of your other priorities right now.
R (RELEVANT) Sometimes the “R” stands for Realistic in the SMART goal framework; the concept is similar. The idea is that your goals need to realistically fit into the rest of your life. And your health goals need to really matter to you and be relevant to the other goals you have. This gets back to finding a meaningful “why” for your goals. Does it seem worthwhile to pursue this goal? And why?
T (TIMELY) Setting goals with deadlines helps create a bit of urgency! If you want to quit smoking, set a goal of having only one cigarette every day (instead of 5) set a date to complete that. If your goal is to completely stop smoking, set a long-term deadline with milestones, so you don’t have to quit cold turkey. Make sure your deadlines and milestones are realistic and timely! And celebrate those milestones. Every step forward is a step closer and a reason to be proud.
There you have it! A blueprint on setting health goals that you are much more likely to want to reach!
Feel like you need a little more information or want some deeper guidance? I can help you create a program tailored to YOU and YOUR NEEDS! We’ll deep dive into the things you want more of in your life and work 1-on-1 to set abundant goals and work towards achieving them!
