Why your goal setting isn’t getting results
When people talk about their health goals, generally, they say things like:
I want to lose 20 pounds
I want to be less stressed
I want to get more sleep
I want to run 5K in under 30 minutes
These are all examples of outcome-based goals - goals that focus on a desired outcome or result.
Of course, it’s fine to frame goals like this… in casual conversation. But it’s not so great for actually progressing towards that goal.
That’s because wanting an outcome isn’t enough. Even if you’re trying hard, and you really want it!
We (usually) can’t control outcomes. You can have a crystal-clear vision of your goal, plus all the motivation in the world, but then:
You get overloaded at work
Your child is off school sick
You’ve started waking up randomly in the middle of the night, or
Your knee decides it hates running
And there goes your goal, up in smoke. Staring at the ashes of your former goals can feel like a personal failure. The truth is, sometimes, it really was nothing to do with you that your goal didn’t work out. It’s just that things beyond your control - work, other people, your biology - didn’t cooperate.
So, if results are out of our hands… how are we supposed to improve at anything?
By setting behaviour-based goals
Behaviour-based goals are centered on the actions you take, like eating slowly at every meal, including protein with breakfast, closing the laptop at 6pm, or walking for half an hour after lunch.
Because you have much more control over your behaviours, behaviour-based goals are more effective, and more empowering.
Here’s how to turn outcome goals into behaviour goals:
Outcome goal: Lower blood sugar
Behaviour goal: Swap my breakfast cereal for a Greek yogurt bowl 3 days a week
Outcome goal: Sleep 8 hours a night
Behaviour goal: Close my laptop at 6pm before dinner
Outcome goal: Reduce my anxiety
Behaviour goal:Spend 5 minutes each day, getting my thoughts out of my head, onto paper
These are just examples or what you might do, not what I’m necessarily recommending. But notice, I haven’t just broken the big ‘outcome goal’ into smaller steps here, these types of goals are fundamentally different.
The ‘outcome goal’ is what can happen, following a series of ‘behaviour goals’ you can actually do!
Let’s make healthy simple
Identify your goal (e.g. sleep 8 hours a night
Choose an action you can do today to move closer to it (e.g. finish work earlier)
Shrink your action to the first small step (e.g. close the laptop at 6pm)
If you’re struggling to make the link, or make the changes, hit reply to chat it through