How to Set Health Goals That You Will Actually Follow

We all get to a point sometimes that we say “enough is enough.” We may feel completely off, see a picture of ourselves we don’t like or develop an illness due to the poor health related choices we’ve been making. Maybe you’ve hit some kind of “rock bottom” in your life and are ready for true lasting change. It’s all about setting health goals that will actually stick, here’s how.

Dig deep and use your distress as motivation to make a transformation.

How often do we set goals and then they disappear from our consciousness as quickly as we make them? One day you feel strong-willed and ready to conquer the world, the next you feel like you might break at any moment. For a true transformation, you must set goals in a way that the only option is to stick with them.

How to set goals that work.

Find your why.

Goals only work if you understand them 100% from the start. A common example of this is making a goal like “I want to have a million dollars.” This goal is so vague and hard to connect with. It’s better to write down or visualize what you would do with a million dollars to help it feel attainable.

The same goes for any type of health goal. Don’t just write down “I want to lose 10 lbs.” Write down how you want to feel and what you want to accomplish with your new lighter body. When you write down your “whys” for your goals it will be significantly easier to stay on track on those rough days when following your goals just doesn’t sound appealing.

Be realistic by starting with small actionable steps.

It’s great to have big dreams when it comes to your health goals. However, you have to start with that first plausible step. Once you’ve identified your biggest health related goals, scrutinize them to see if you can further break down the goal into achievable steps. This will make it easier for you to stay on track and motivated, rather than overwhelmed.

Have a goal to exercise more? Start with a goal of doing cardio for 30 minutes per day when you first wake up. Or start with running three miles per week and build from there.

Have a goal to eat better? Make a goal of eating three salads per week for lunch. Or having one meatless day per week. These goals all make it simple to start and are easy to build on top of when you are ready.

Related read: 8 Reasons Why Health Consciousness is Important

Review your goals daily.

Our entire nervous system and brain work hard to make our lives as efficient as possible. This is why habits are created: to minimize the amount of thought and energy that go into everyday life activities. Both consistently reviewing and actually participating in your health goals will help them become deeply ingrained into your daily habits. Once they’ve become habits, you have created bulletproof health choices that you will easily stick to.

Write them down, read them out loud, visualize, share them with a friend or family member, or post them on the fridge. Do what resonates with you and will help you to stay on top of your goals. The last thing you want is to write them down and then forget about them. That completely defeats the purpose of goal setting.

Make yourself accountable.

Set your goals up in a way that makes it so you can be accountable with both yourself and others. This means sharing them with family, friends, or online groups. Finding a workout buddy or healthy habits partner that has similar goals to you so that you can provide each other motivation and inspiration to stay on track.

Accountability is a great motivator since most of us don’t like to let others down on our promises.

Surround yourself with support and community that inspires you.

This goes one step further than just accountability. They say you are the equivalent of the five people you spend the most time with, so make those people count! Being able to participate in a partnership, group, or community that has the same values as you can help you feel empowered and give a sense of belonging. You will feel great when you can provide inspiration and in turn will benefit on those days when you need a little extra push.

Where will you begin on your health goal journey?

Need inspiration? I still have copies of my free book about healthy habits available here. It provides a great introduction to each category of health and how to immediately incorporate them into your life with goal setting.

Which of these areas do you find most important in setting goals? For me, writing them down helps immensely with making them a reality.