By Ashley Bradshaw
Founder, Lead Registered Dietitian, Nutrition Coach, Registered Online Yoga Instructor
The effect that setting goals and intentions have can be pretty tricky business!
How do you feel when you set a goal and accomplish it??
Accomplished. Encouraged. Motivated.
All desirable feelings to keep trekking along.
How do you feel when you do NOT accomplish a goal??
Frustrated. Defeated. Failure. These negative feelings can sometimes lead to a downward spiral of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in the opposite direction of your goal, which can then be hard to resurface from.
All not so desirable outcomes that can stop us in our tracks.
Clearly, two EXTREMELY different effects.
One uplifting 😁 and one potentially destructive 😩.
Therefore, it is important we take a moment to consider if the “pros” of setting goals and intentions outweigh the “cons”?
The positive outcomes associated with setting goals can absolutely outweigh the cons. You may find reframing your thought process when setting your goals to help decreasing the negative feelings that commonly follow when you do not accomplish a goal. Remember… we are human, we are not perfect, we are not going to nail it every time.
5 Tips to Overcome Negative Consequences of Setting Goals
- Prep Yourself! Before you even set your goals, truly acknowledge and understand that each week you may not accomplish all your goals. And that is okay! Ask yourself what will you do if that happens? What can you learn?
- Release the inner perfectionist! While our perfectionist side can be helpful in some avenues of life, there are a lot of avenues it can be self-destructive. Understand the areas it is self-destructive and take steps to relieve yourself of these VERY high standards.
- Set Small Goals! I know you have heard that before, but have you done it?! Saying you want to get 10k steps a day when you are currently getting 2k is a very lofty goal and setting yourself up for struggle. 10k is your big goal. Make your small goal 3-4k steps each day. And build on it week to week.
- Be focused. If you set goals to (1) add in a meditation practice each day, (2) increase your steps, (3) drink 50 oz of water, (4) add vegetables in at each meal, (5) be more mindful of snacking you are spreading yourself pretty thin. You have to focus on these plus all the other everyday things you have to do. So how likely are you to truly accomplish all 5 goals?!?! 🤨 Focus on 1-3 new goals at a time to increase the likelihood of accomplishment.
- Learn from Your Experience. The first tip focused on being honest with yourself and understanding that you are not always going to accomplish goals set. When we don’t, it provides a great opportunity for growth, for you to understand yourself even better. You just have to take the time to reflect, process, and evolve. Here are a few self reflection questions you can ask yourself to get the thoughts flowing:
- What obstacles got in the way of accomplishing the goal? What will I do next week to overcome the obstacles?
- Is this actually a goal I feel strongly enough about to take action on?
- Is this goal realistic for me given everything that is going on in my life right now? Do I need to put it on the back-burner to revisit when I am in a better place?
Set your goals. Be focused, intentional, determined and most importantly, be kind to yourself.
Until next time my friend.
—Ashley
If you are ready to take your healthy living journey to the next level, I would love to explore what it would look like to work together. Click Here to schedule a discovery meeting with me to learn more!
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