How to Set Goals and Achieve Them

We understand that setting yourself goals can be difficult and a little scary, but that’s only because new goals involve change. Although change means you will do things differently, it doesn’t also mean it has to be hard. 

To put you at ease and to give you more confidence, here at New You HQ, we decided to put together some tips and advice on how you can set yourself some goals to achieve your transformation and be successful. 

Looking Long Term

Firstly you need to decide your long term goal; for most of you, this will be your why. 

It could be:

• To be a size ‘x’ again.
• To be slimmer for your wedding.
• To feel comfortable in your own skin.
• To be fitter.
• To lose 5 stone.
• To reduce your medication.
• To avoid a health condition like diabetes.
• To be more confident and put yourself forward for that promotion.

It can really be anything as long as you’re clear in your mind about it and it’s not too vague or broad.

Understanding your long term goal is the first stage in setting yourself a SMART goal. All your goals need to be SMART:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable.
• Relevant.
• Time-limited.

Once you’ve found your specific long term goal, make sure it’s measurable, in that you will know you have achieved it by a certain indicator. For example, if you’ve decided that you want to avoid diabetes and you’re already pre-diabetic, ensure you get your Hba1c checked by your GP regularly. Once you’ve been diagnosed as no longer pre-diabetic, you will know you have achieved what you set out to do.

Having a long term goal that is attainable is essential, if you don’t you will be setting yourself up to fail. It’s better to have a goal that you can re-evaluate in the future rather than expect unrealistic expectations of yourself. For example, don’t set yourself the goal of being able to complete a marathon in two months time, if you’ve never run in your life and can only commit to half an hour of training a week. You won’t be ready for that marathon!

Your goal has to be relevant to your life, it really has to matter. You may need to dig deep for this one. What would happen if you didn’t reach your goal? What would your life look like? For example, if you wanted to drop 3 dress sizes before your wedding and you didn’t even come close, would you look at those photos forever with regret?

Putting a time limit on your goal is important to keep you motivated and find a sense of achievement. The time frame should also be reasonable too, else you will end up feeling deflated and disappointed. A goal to lose 3 stone in 4 months is a lot more realistic than expecting yourself to hit that target in 2. Be kind to yourself.

Looking Short Term

If you want to be successful in your long term goal then you need to break it down into mini short term goals. This prevents overwhelm and keeps you motivated because you can celebrate your little wins along the way.

Just like your long term goal, your mini short term ones need to be SMART. Look at each mini-goal taking you between 2 weeks and a month to achieve. After you have completed each one you can re-evaluate whereabouts you are in your journey in order to set the next one. 

Short term goals could include:

• Starting a new habit.
• Taking up a weekly exercise class.
• Working on your mindset.
• Drinking an extra glass of water a day.
• Taking the dog for an extra walk each day.

Life Happens – Be Flexible

The key to making your goals successful is to be flexible. Sometimes life gets in the way and you have to adapt or change. Also bear in mind that it takes time to break old habits and make healthy new ones permanent, so be kind to yourself.

When you feel a sense of failure, try and remember that failing is all part of learning and evolving – it’s a positive thing so try and embrace it. 

Achieving Your Goals

Consistency and being accountable is another important element to successfully achieving your goals. Write everything down so your plans are readable and to hand. Record your progress so you can see where you are in terms of your goals and feel motivated by what you’ve achieved. If what you’re doing isn’t working then change it, tweak it, re-evaluate it – just don’t give up. And tell someone what you’re doing, have some accountability and find your own personal cheerleader.

Congratulations on Learning a Transferable Skill!

Knowing how to set your own weight loss goals and successfully achieve them is a skill you can apply to other areas of your life. Whether it be your home life, professional life or social life, if you have something you would like to accomplish, then make your goal to get there SMART.

We hope this has helped you to start setting your own goals with some confidence. If you do feel you need more advice in this area then head on over to our Secret Slimmer’s Facebook group. In our Guides section, you will find previous coaching sessions from Pascale which cover setting goals. Our friendly community over there are also happy to give tips and advice on what has and hasn’t worked for them. If neither of those suits you then our friendly customer service team are always on hand to offer a kind ear and useful solutions.