Goal Setting: FAQs (Part 3)

This is the third article in my goal-setting triad. I’ve covered key types (e.g., proximal, distal, effort, and outcome), level of aggressiveness, and purpose (the “North Star” goals). In this article, I address elements that help round out the discussion and questions my clients usually pose. I present these in an FAQ format for ease of reading.

How often should I set goals? How often should I modify them?

The best advice I have is to experiment. Find out what keeps you in a positive mindset and engaged in your target activities. By positive mindset, I mean setting goals that do not lead to feelings of guilt, shame, and negative “I’m a failure” self-talk. I often find these to be effort-based, proximal goals that foster momentum, and supportive internal dialogue. By engaged, I mean connected to your behaviors and activities: being mindful and deliberate in your actions. I am deliberately using the word ‘actions’ in this context, because the changes you’re seeking are driven by what you do. “Knowing” and “doing” are related (knowing can guide the doing), but knowing without doing renders this knowledge moot. I find that an effective cadence for setting and re-calibration is weekly. For illustrative purposes, I review my goals every Sunday. I re-confirm my effort-based goals for the week ahead, and decide on either setting or refining distal, outcome, and North Star goals.

I’ve achieved my aggressive, outcome-based and/or North Star goal. Now what?

First of all, congratulations! That’s awesome! Ensure you celebrate your achievement; you’ve worked hard along the way. Second, I strongly recommend investing time to reflect on the journey—what worked, what didn’t work, and why. Journal or record these observations and self-epiphanies; you will leverage them considerably going forward. Third, I strongly recommend that you maintain proximal, effort-based goals to solidify your achievements. In one of my earlier articles, I mentioned homeostasis: it’s 100% in play here and is agnostic to your goals. You need to maintain your new level of health and fitness actively; if you do not, there is a high probability that you will give back your advances as your body readjusts to changes in your level of activity, nutrition, recovery, or other variables that you modified along the way. I’ll address the physiology behind this in a future article. Fourth, taking a break from setting new, aggressive, North Star goals is perfectly OK. You can monitor your readiness in your periodic review/refinement cadence. For illustrative purposes, I do not currently have an aggressive, outcome-based or compelling North Star goal. I will explain the ‘why’ behind this in an upcoming post—it’s intentional. That said, I have proximal, effort-based goals I renew every week.

I’ve hit a plateau without reaching my goal. Now what?

I’ll cover the physiology behind plateaus in a future article. For now, because our focus is on goal setting, I strongly recommend that you take time during your review/refinement cadence to re-evaluate your goals. The objective is to maintain momentum and mitigate the risk of allowing negativity to gain a foothold. You may decide to show yourself some compassion and pause your pursuit of an aggressive goal. You may reset the goal; perhaps it was ‘too’ aggressive. There may also be other elements to address: Is your plateau the result of headwinds or barriers to your intended activities? These could be related to increased travel, a new schedule, an injury, illness, or a new job (or one of a number of other reasons). In these instances, it’s more important to explore and address these and revise your portfolio of goals accordingly than to allow frustration and other negative emotions to develop. Plateaus can be tricky—they are highly facts and circumstances specific, and need to be carfefully unpacked.

Do I need to write my goals down?

That is entirely up to you. There is no consensus across all the conversations I’ve had with other industry professionals and clients I’ve worked with. Formally recording goals is a highly personal, idiosyncratic decision. Some find that recording them makes the goals ‘real’ and helps them with self-accountability. Some find that writing goals down makes the process feel like a chore, and others believe that recording them is unnecessary because their goals are clear and straightforward. If you watched the DocMorris video in the prior article (Goal Setting Part 2), you may find that an object—such as a photo or memento—may be a compelling reminder and part of a daily routine. It was obvious that the picture of his granddaughter gave this gentleman all the purpose he needed—no formal (written) plan required.

Do I even need to set goals? Do I have to do this?

No, you don’t. If you are intrinsically motivated and have developed routines and habits that serve you well, creating specific goals may not be necessary. Some even believe that goals strip the joy out of activities and make them feel like ‘work’ or just a series of tasks to check off the ‘to-do’ list. Not having goals may be an end game (an aspirational goal in and of itself, ironically). Still, most are served well by creating goals and using them as a springboard to initiate and sustain behavior change.

While I’ve provided concrete guidance on the process and components of goal setting, I offer none of it prescriptively. I encourage you to engage with the process and experiement using the guidelines I’ve presented. In sum, the answers to these FAQs and related questions are the ones that fit best for you based on your specific facts and circumstances.

If you need any assistance working through these topics, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m here to help.