Why You’re Struggling to Reach Your Goals (and How to Set a Goal You’ll Reach)

Do any of those sound acquainted?

• It feels such as you’re all the time setting a new objective, going all-in for a few weeks, burning out, falling again into outdated habits, feeling defeated… then beginning the method over once more, telling your self you’ll be “stricter” or “better” this time.
• You actually need to get a sure consequence, however you possibly can’t appear to make the modifications you want to get them to stick.
• You know the stuff you’re supposed to do, however you wrestle to present up and do them.

(Or perhaps you’re a coach or coach, and also you’re seeing this time and time once more within the women who come to you for assist.)

If one in every of these (or all of them!) rings true, let me start by saying this: It’s not laziness, or a lack of drive, or a signal you or your shoppers simply want to “buckle down and do the thing.”

Rather, there’s one basic factor most likely lacking — and that’s worth alignment (extra on this in a second).

Luckily, we’ve received a answer for you. It’s referred to as values-based objective setting.

In this text, you’ll learn the way to determine your values and apply them to your health and fitness endeavors so that you get the outcomes you need, no burning out or unsustainable plans required.

Keep studying to discover out:

• Why values are essential within the context of nutrition and fitness.
• How to set values-based objectives from the start. (Spoiler alert: This will remodel your outcomes!)
• How to break your objectives down into an actionable plan so you realize precisely what to do each step of the way in which.

Ready? Let’s get to it.

The Value of Values

Let’s start by getting clear on what values are, and the way they differ from objectives.

Your values are the rules you reside by.

They symbolize who you need to be, what you stand for, and the way you need to present up in your life. Think of your values as your North Star, guiding you alongside your journey and serving to you make selections based mostly on what’s most essential to you. Your values could embrace issues like braveness, independence, flexibility, or progress.

Goals are the vacation spot or the top consequence.

Goals are one thing you possibly can obtain or cross off your listing, akin to studying to do a pull-up, running a marathon, or shedding a sure proportion of body fats.

Why Values Are Key to Achieving Goals

One of the commonest causes of us wrestle to get outcomes is a disconnect between their values and their objectives. They know the result they need to obtain however don’t contemplate their values within the execution.

If your objectives and actions don’t align along with your values, that’s what we name a values discrepancy.

Why is that this essential?

Well, a values discrepancy can lead to three main issues:

1. You’re setting objectives that don’t really align with what’s essential to you and the way you need to reside your life — that means you’ll wrestle with consistency and motivation.
2. You know the outcomes you need to obtain, however the behaviors you’re zeroing in on to get there aren’t life like or sustainable for you. When your day-to-day actions really feel compelled, it’s a recipe for burnout.
3. The work you set in towards your objectives received’t really feel deeply fulfilling or significant.

But when your objectives align along with your values, the work you set into reaching them feels purposeful and gratifying. In different phrases, the day-to-day efforts — whether or not that’s getting extra exercise, bettering your sleep habits, or eating extra greens — are literally gratifying. And when the trouble is gratifying, you’re extra possible to proceed doing it.

Here’s an instance: Suppose your objective is to lose 40 kilos and one in every of your values is freedom. If you join a strict food regimen program that requires you to eat each three hours or doesn’t depart room for a slice of birthday cake, you’re going to wrestle to stick to that program. Why? Because it doesn’t mirror what’s actually essential to you: freedom.

However, think about that as an alternative of forcing your self to observe a restrictive food regimen, you concentrate on a few healthful nutrition abilities that suit your life-style. Maybe it’s eating some form of protein at each meal or veggies with any two meals a day. Boom! Now you’re eating in a manner that’s each healthful and in keeping with what’s intrinsically significant to you — and that’s the important thing to staying motivated.

Now we’ve lined the significance of values in objective setting, let’s bounce into how to set values-based objectives so you possibly can start getting the outcomes you’re after.

5 Steps to Setting Values-Based Goals

At GGS, we’ve labored with a whole lot of 1000’s of women to assist them obtain their health and fitness objectives by way of our articles, certifications, free programs, and GGS Coaching program. As such, we’ve developed a dependable five-step technique that ensures you:

• Set significant objectives that align with what’s essential to you.
• Know precisely how to use these values-based objectives to kind a sustainable, efficient motion plan.
• Understand how to troubleshoot alongside the way in which.

We’ve additionally created a helpful worksheet so you possibly can work by way of this course of by yourself when you’re finished studying!

Click right here to obtain the worksheet that may information you thru the steps outlined on this article.

(Are you a coach or coach? This worksheet is a nice exercise to do along with your shoppers.)

Step #1: Get Clear on Your Values

You can’t set values-based objectives if you happen to don’t know what your values are!

Your values can (and will!) be established in a few completely different areas of your life:

• Your body, health, and fitness
• Work/training
• Relationships
• Lifestyle

For the needs of this text, we’ll be focusing in your values as they relate to your body, health, and fitness.

To decide your values, attempt the next exercise.

First, take a while to create a listing of your prime 10 health and fitness values. You’ll discover a listing of values to select from (although in fact, you possibly can add your individual!) and a few house to work by way of this in your downloadable worksheet. Keep the next immediate in thoughts whilst you make your picks:

• When you consider your body, health, and fitness, which values do you most strongly determine with?

Next, slim that listing down to solely your prime 5 values. Then, slim these 5 down to your prime three (so as of significance).

Now that you just’re outfitted along with your prime three values, you may get to work setting these objectives!

Step #2: Set Your Outcome-Based Goal

If your values are your North Star, consider your outcome-based objective as your vacation spot on a map; it’s the place you in the end need to find yourself.

These objectives are sometimes numbers-focused, like shedding a sure variety of kilos or doing 20 push-ups.

Chances are, you already know your outcome-based objective, or maybe a few come to thoughts as you learn this text. Either manner, earlier than you identify precisely what you need to work towards, there are three tips to observe:

1. Only work on one or two outcome-based objectives at a time. Any greater than that may divide your focus and power, leading to burnout.
2. Be ready to work in your objective(s) for 12 weeks. Your objectives want a deadline not solely to assist preserve you targeted, but additionally so you can also make modifications if wanted. An finish date of 12 weeks offers you with a chance to consider how issues went after which set a new objective. (Keep in thoughts that some outcome-based objectives take longer than 12 weeks to obtain. But for this framework, I like to recommend breaking massive objectives into smaller chunks that may be realistically achieved within the 12-week timeframe.)
3. Be certain your objective(s) align along with your values. Before you start working towards your objectives, run them by way of a “values filter.” Ask your self:

• • How do these objectives align with my values?
  • Will reaching these objectives permit me to reside in a manner that’s essential to me?
  • Will reaching these objectives have a constructive impression on my life?

Now you’ve decided your final objective and made certain it aligns along with your values, you possibly can transfer to the subsequent step: setting behavior-based objectives.

Step #3: Determine Your Behavior-Based Goals

While it’s nice to have a vacation spot, you’re going to have hassle getting there with out instructions. That’s the place behavior-based objectives are available.

Behavior-based objectives are the particular motion steps you (or your shoppers) are prepared, prepared, and in a position to take every day (or a few instances a week) to transfer towards your final objective. They permit you to constantly rack up small wins and acquire a sense of ongoing achievement.

Establish one or two behavior-based objectives to get you started. That could not sound like a lot, however belief me, something extra will be overwhelming and, subsequently, powerful to keep on with. Behavior change is tough work!

It’s essential to set behavior-based objectives you’re assured you possibly can constantly obtain over and over. If you have a look at your conduct objectives and assume they sound too straightforward — good! (You’ll be growing the variety of behavior-based objectives in a while.)

If you need assistance figuring out your behavior-based objectives, do this exercise:

Consider that the large dial-movers for many health and fitness objectives fall into a number of of the next 5 classes:

• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Daily motion
• Sleep
• Stress

Now, write down a bunch of behaviors for every class that may allow you to transfer towards your outcome-based objective. Then, select the one or two behaviors on that listing that stand out as probably the most life like and achievable for you to work on proper now.

For instance, let’s say your outcome-based objective is to lose 40 kilos. Obviously, we don’t suggest shedding 40 kilos in solely 12 weeks! But shedding 10–15 kilos could also be completely doable. So to your first 12-week part, let’s think about your first objective is to lose 15 kilos.

Your behavior-based objectives would possibly then be:

1. Resistance train 3 times per week. (Exercise)
2. Include a full serving of greens with at the least two meals per day. (Nutrition)

Next, check-in to be certain these behaviors align along with your values. To use the above instance, in case your prime three values are strength, freedom, and autonomy, then resistance training aligns with the worth of strength, and selecting which veggies to eat and when aligns with the values of autonomy and freedom. Check, test, and test!

Step #4: Plan Your Action Steps

The motion steps you are taking to obtain your behavior-based objectives are what we name Implementation Intentions.

Clear and particular Implementation Intentions give you the precise steps to transfer towards your objective; there’s no guesswork. After all, a objective of understanding 3 times a week is nice, however with out a detailed plan for making that occur, there’s a lot of room for error.

To decide your motion steps, take into consideration precisely what you want to full your behavior-based objectives. This is the “what, where, when, and how” portion of your plan.

So in case your behavior-based objectives are:

• Resistance train 3 times per week.
• Include a full serving of veggies with at the least two meals per day.

Then your Implementation Intentions may be:

• Resistance training on the fitness center for 45 minutes each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night at 5pm.
• Stocking up on contemporary veggies on the market each Sunday and chopping them up so that they’re prepared for the week.

Need assist figuring out your motion steps? Or merely aren’t certain the place to start? Get the one-on-one assist you want in our GGS Coaching program.

Step #5: Anticipate Obstacles and Create a Back-Up Plan

Obstacles are the potential limitations that forestall you (or the women who come to you for assist) from reaching behavior-based objectives.

Take a second now to envision the objective you’ll be working towards for the subsequent 12 weeks. What obstacles would possibly pop up and forestall you from reaching your behavior-based objectives? Maybe it is working lengthy hours, household obligations, or an outdated damage flaring up. Make a listing of the 5 probably prospects, and create a backup plan for navigating each. (There’s a house for you to do that in your downloadable worksheet.)

A useful manner to do that is to use “if, then” language:

• (*5*)
• (*1*)
• (*3*)

Congratulations, you’ve accomplished the 5 steps! This will be difficult work, so high fives for that!

Now you’re prepared to put the plan into motion and start working towards your objective. Next, I’ll educate you what that appears like in follow.

How to Put Your Plan into Action

• For the subsequent two weeks, concentrate on reaching your behavior-based objectives, aiming for at the least 80 p.c consistency.
• Use the chart in your worksheet to observe your behaviors as you full them. (Or, you need to use a calendar, pocket book, or habit-tracking app.)
• After two weeks, assess your progress. If you accomplished a conduct at the least 80 p.c of the time, add one or two new behavior-based objectives to work on for the subsequent two weeks. (Go again to Step 3 and repeat the method from there).
• If you didn’t attain 80 p.c consistency, chances are you’ll want to scale back the conduct to one thing you realize you possibly can positively do. So if you happen to have been aiming for 3 45-minute resistance workouts per week, scale back the frequency or length (or each) till you’re in a position to meet your objective.
• Repeat this course of for 12 weeks, then consider your progress. If you reached your outcome-based objective — Congratulations! You can return to Step 1 and set a new one. (But don’t overlook to take the time to acknowledge and have a good time your achievement!) If you didn’t fairly hit your objective, likelihood is, you continue to made progress! Set a new outcome-based objective (even when it’s solely a minor variation of the outdated one) and keep in mind — each motion you’re taking is transferring you towards your required final result, and each motion will allow you to reside in alignment along with your values. Celebrate each step of the way in which.

What If I Still Struggle to Stay Motivated?

Hey, life occurs. And which means even when your objectives align along with your values, it’s nonetheless doable to really feel a dip in your motivation at times. I’ve received you lined with these three tips for navigating the bumps within the highway and staying the course:

• Come again to your values. You would possibly discover it useful to write them out in a journal, or repeat them to your self whereas respiratory deeply for a jiffy. Post your values on a sticky be aware on the fridge, your nightstand, or the lavatory mirror so you may see them each day. You may set telephone reminders as effectively!
• Consider what you “don’t value”. In addition to interested by what you need to transfer towards, it might assist to take into consideration what you need to keep away from. For occasion, when it comes to your health and fitness, you may want to keep away from sickness, damage, and worry. This may also help solidify what’s actually essential to you to attempt for, akin to vitality, strength, and confidence.
• Curate your social media. The content material you devour can have a big impression in your mindset and behaviors. Consider unfollowing accounts that don’t align along with your values, and in search of out people who do. For occasion, if you happen to worth freedom, chances are you’ll not need to observe accounts that promote strict meal plans. Instead, search for some you possibly can relate to, that promote a balanced and versatile method to nutrition.

The Wrap-Up

Hopefully by now, you see the facility of values alignment in objective setting. Maybe you’ve even had an “aha!” second, or one thing “clicked”. If so, you’re most likely itching to shut this text and get to work.

Before you do, let’s recap how to use values-based objective setting to get outcomes:

1. Identify your prime three values that relate to health and fitness. Use our downloadable worksheet to assist information you.
2. Set an outcome-based objective that aligns with these values and you’ll work towards for 12 weeks.
3. Choose one or two behaviors that may transfer you towards your outcome-based objective, together with the precise motion steps required to perform these behaviors.
4. Anticipate and plan for any potential roadblocks that would forestall you from reaching your behavior-based objectives.
5. Evaluate your progress each two weeks. If you’ve reached 80 p.c consistency, add one or two new behavior-based objectives (and motion steps) to your routine. Otherwise, modify the behaviors to one thing extra doable and take a look at once more. Repeat the method for 12 weeks, assess your progress, and have a good time! If you could have extra you need to accomplish, set your subsequent outcome-based objective.

There’s no query that adopting new behaviors to obtain your objectives is tough work, but it surely doesn’t have to really feel compelled, aggravating, or unattainable.

When you set objectives which might be in alignment along with your values, not solely do you set your self up on the trail to success, however you additionally discover objective and delight within the course of. It’s a win win!