Ready, Set, Goals! - A PVN skill-building webinar

In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, 31 people participated in our January 17 webinar on goal-setting. Katherine Warrendorf, a kinesiologist and For My Health! program lead, guided participants through a structured goal-setting process. This series of steps helps participants define their goals and increase their odds of success.

Step 1 – Write down your health goal. 

• Make it a SMART goal: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
• Choose something you feel is achievable in the next 3-4 months.
• Use positive words (My weight will be 175 pounds by May 1 rather than I need to lose 10 pounds)

Step 2 – Consider reasons why this goal is important to you. It should be something you really want to work on, and not just something you feel you should do. Record all the factors that motivate you to achieve these goals – and revisit them later if your motivation is challenged.

Step 3 – Identify specific, small healthy changes you make that can help you reach your goal. Write down as many as possible.These should be changes that you are willing to make

Step 4 – Find one health change that you are both ready and able to try right away. Choose an item from Step 3 and write down what, when, where, and how you will do it – ideally in the next week!

Step 5 & 6 – Think about the change you wish to make and list any factors that might get in the way. Then decide what you intend to do about these barriers.

Step 7 – Ask yourself if you are confident in your ability to make this change. On a scale from 1 – 10, how confident are you? If your score is less than 7, ask yourself what you would need to raise it. If your score is 7 or higher, go for it!  Research shows that you are likely to be sucessful

Step 8 – Set a follow-up date to check-in with your progress. You may wish to put your plan in a visible place, like on the front of your fridge, as a reminder.

Step 9 – When you are ready, choose another item from Step 3 and make a new plan!

PVN member Koreena dialed into the session and did a great job of setting her goal and breaking it down into steps. She shared this with us on Facebook: “I am ready to start achieving my goal of eating a healthy breakfast at least four days a week. I will be doing this by looking up fun new breakfast recipes, planning my menu before I go shopping for groceries, and preparing some of my breakfast meals the night before so they are ready to go in the morning.” It sounds like she is off to an excellent start!

For additional support, enlist a friend or family member for feedback and to encourage accountability. You can also download a goal-setting form from the Patient Voices Network to work through the nine steps.