building blocks to better living - illinois human resources · short term & long term goals...

Building Blocks to Better Living

Setting and reaching your goals the SMART way

Today you will learn

• Four key components to effective goal setting

• How to set short term goals to achieve your long term goals

• How to motivate yourself through tangible and intangible rewards

• The importance of tracking your progress

What do YOU want to achieve?

• What’s wrong with these goals?

–My husband wants me to stop smoking

–My kids want me to become a vegetarian

–My doctor says should lose weight

What are you going to get out of this?

• Change is hard

• People need to get something they want

• Benefits need to be practical & relevant to you

Four components of effective goal setting

SMART

S - Specific

• State exactly what needs to be accomplished: exactly what are you going do, how much? When? How often?

• Not specific: I will walk more

• Specific: I will walk for fifteen minutes during my at lunch break on Monday Wednesday and Friday this week.

M - Measurable

• Helps determine if you met the goal

• Allows you to evaluate progress

• Not measurable: I will lose weight

• Measureable: I will lose 1 pound by the end of the month.

A - Attainable

• Goals need to be something you can really accomplish – Not too easy – not too hard

• You need to believe you can accomplish them

• Scale of one to ten – at least a seven in confidence level.

• NOT Attainable: I will never eat dessert again.

• Attainable: I will limit myself to having a small dessert on two occasions this week.

R -Relevant

• Goals need to be pertinent to you personal interests needs and talents.

• NOT relevant: ?

• Relevant: ?

T - Timed

• Goals without a timeline are vague – it’s easy to slip out of them

• Timelines help you stay focused on attaining the goal

• Timelines can be short and long term.

• NOT Timed: I will manage my time better by listing my tasks in Outlook

• Timed: I will set up the tasks function and list my upcoming tasks in Outlook this Friday.

Your road map: short term & long term goals

• Long term goals • Represent big change • Require time to reach

– a month or more

• Short term goals • Steps that lead to attaining the long term goal • Can be accomplished in short periods of time

– less than a month

• Make mid-course changes if needed

Include actions/behaviors in your goals

• What’s wrong with this?

• Long term goal: I will lose ten pounds by March 31

• Short term goal one: I will lose two pounds by the end of the week.

• Short term goal two : I will lose five pounds by the end of the month

Rewards help you achieve your goals

• Tangible vs. intangible

• Tangible (external): most helpful when first making changes

• Intangible (internal): kick in later

• Little rewards for short term goals/ big rewards for long term goals

• Need not be costly – or material

• Delayed gratification – may need to superimpose

Tracking your progress

• Is consistently linked to successful health change

• Is especially important when you are first starting to make a change

• Allows you to see if you’re reaching your goals

• Allows you to make changes as you go along

Example

• Long term goal: I will prepare myself and be ready to quit smoking on Tuesday, March 13

– Short term goal one: I will meet with my doctor to discuss nicotine patches and other medical support options by February 24.

– Short term goal two: I will enroll in the Freedom From Smoking class that begins on February 15, and I will attend all the weekly sessions.

– Short term goal three: I will remove all smoking materials from my home, car and office by March 12.

A few more tips

• Put your goals in writing

• Tell someone about your goals

• Enlist support

• Place positive prompts to reinforce your resolve to change (e.g. walking shoes by the door)

• Remove stimuli that might trigger undesirable behavior (remove junk food from the counter)

• Allow for occasional time off or scaling back.

Thank you for attending! http://www.campusrec.illinois.edu:16080/wellnesscenter

For more info contact Michele Guerra

244-2205 (direct) 265-WELL (9355)

mguerra@illinois.edu

Hours: M – F: 8:30 am – 5:00 PM