Do you want to train for a marathon, eat more protein, lower your blood pressure, practice yoga daily, or do anything else health-related? Setting goals will help you achieve whatever you're after health-wise, and you can use the tips below to do it.
Be Realistic
When it comes to some types of goals, it's best not to rein yourself in too much. If you're making a list of career goals, why not imagine yourself becoming CEO of a major corporation or succeeding at the top of whatever profession you want to pursue? However, when it comes to health goals, make sure you aren't holding yourself to an impossible standard. That doesn't mean you can't run a marathon someday if you can't even run a mile today, as plenty of people do manage to do that with a lot of time and training, but it does mean that you can't run a marathon next month. You may want to run your health goals by your doctor or another medical professional. A dietician may be able to help you design a healthy weight loss plan.
Be Open
On the other hand, you should be open to unconventional solutions. Perhaps your health goals revolve around trying to remain independent in your home despite a disability that is giving you more mobility problems as the years go by. You might not be able to keep going up and down those stairs indefinitely, but a home lift could give you more freedom. The new age home lifts are often relatively easy to install in most types of structures and do not require much maintenance. Look outside the box for solutions and try to avoid getting easily discouraged.
Be Specific
Goal setting is all about giving yourself something measurable to strive for. Therefore, something like "I want to feel better" isn't really something you can quantify. However, "within three months, I want to be getting at least seven hours of sleep per night" is. Another example might be "By July, I want to be able to run five miles without stopping." In this case, figure out what exactly "feel better" means to you and work your way from there to creating a concrete goal. Be sure to give yourself a time limit as well. Breaking your main goal down into a series of manageable steps is important. Your mini goals on the way to running five miles might be hitting the marks of one, two, three and four miles first.
Be Accountable
Staying on track and staying honest isn't always easy. Pairing with a friend or family member and sharing your progress and struggles with them can make a big difference in your motivation. If you don't know anyone who would take this journey with you and offer encouragement, look online, where you can find several forums and support groups. If this doesn't work for you, you can be accountable to yourself. Make a system for keeping track of your progress and give yourself rewards when you reach a certain milestone. There are apps that can help you with this as well, some of which gamify your progress.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of sciencetimes.com
