What is goal setting?
Goal setting theory was established in the 1960s by a couple of researchers named Edwin Locke and Gary Latham.
Goal setting can be useful part of a healing practice because often:
- we are more likely to take ownership of goals when they are self-directed
- we are more likely to self-regulate our behavior successfully if we create goals that hold significance or intrinsic value, particularly if they are necessary for our own survival
- it will be easier to feel a sense of self discipline when we can witness and measure our own progress toward goals that improve our quality of life and sense of self direction.
How is Goal Setting related to your healing practice?
In your Self-Care practice:
Goal setting can help you:
- brainstorm and identify a vision for what you’d like to work toward
- help you assess the feasibility of what you MUST have versus what you’d LIKE TO have
- help you establish attainable priorities
- develop a strategy for how to achieve that vision
- measure and incentivize any progress you make toward the goals that you establish
From a project or organizational perspective:
In addition to the benefits we’ve identified when setting goals in your self-care practice, goal setting can help you:
- define the strategic values and broader context your goals must align with
- establish assessment criteria and performance metrics to help you refine your goals, your methodology, and the resources you allocate toward toward attaining those goals
- continually improve your progress in ways that are transparent and accountable toward those who contribute their time, energy, and efforts toward your vision
When establishing a Collective Care practice:
Within a collective-care practice, goal setting can help you:
- identify any areas where you may need additional resources or support in order to pursue/ attain a goal (e.g. education, training, funding, staffing, etc)
- identify any areas you may need to ask for or coordinate assistance
- create shared vision or strategic alignment within your support network
How does Goal Setting Work?
[Project Opportunity] What would an effective goal setting tool look like?
Locke and Latham recommend developing goals that are:
- SPECIFIC: clearly defined so that you know what you’re working toward
- MEASURABLE: set up in a way that you can track and monitor your progress
- ACHIEVABLE: actually feasible and that you have the resources to do
- RELEVANT: important enough for you to follow through with in your pursuits
- TIMELY: within a period of time that makes your efforts actionable so that you get started and make progress the way you intend
If you’re just starting out in the pursuit of a unfamiliar or challenging goal, it can be challenging to identify or plan how you will succeed in the goals that you’ve set.
Examples
In your Self-Care practice:
Many people wrestle with large abstract goals when making New Year’s Resolutions. They may set a vague goal like, “become a healthier person” or a specific goal like “go to the gym 5 times a week” but be completely unaware of how to establish an exercise regimen that will help them consistently achieve their goals without injury.
From a project or organizational perspective:
Often with large projects, organizations may similarly struggle with a lack of clarity as to how a goal accomplishes a larger strategic objective, or how to plan and implement a large project that has many moving tasks, stakeholders, and/or competing interests.
When establishing a Collective Care Practice:
Similarly, limited time, resources, and levels of investment can make it difficult to mobilize a community unless there is a shared vision and conveners to facilitate the coordination of shared governance and responsibilities.
Goal Setting Strategies
Guided Questions:
To demonstrate, we'll use the self-care example:
What would a healthy version of yourself look like?
In order to define the answer to this question you can use a variety of strategies to brainstorm potential goals to work toward, including:
- Make a list of habits you’d like to pursue or you think might provide benefits to your current quality of life
- Discuss your answer with another person or group (which can sometimes help generate ideas you may not have considered)
- Create a vision/mood/pin board of images that represent your idea of the habits and practices you believe would improve your health and quality of life
- Review old photos, apps, goals that remind you of the times in your life when you’ve felt healthiest and happiest
Can you think of other ways to answer this question?
Develop assessment criteria
We’ll continue to use the question from the previous example to consider how these might be developed:
In order to develop assessment criteria, it may be beneficial to apply any of the following methods to begin to narrow down or identify goals that may be more in alignment with the version of yourself you believe reflects the health goals you’d like to set:
- Develop a clear mental map of what you’re working toward by looking up how those with previous experience exploring your goal have defined and/or approached their pursuit of it. (Sometimes it can be helpful to identify a person or framework (school of thought) used to inform your goal so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel).
- Identify how those with previous experience exploring your goal have measured their progress or implementation of the goal you’d like to pursue (for example, if your goal is to develop a yoga practice, how did others get started or build up enough strength and stability to implement their yoga practice? what did success look like for them? will you attempt a similar goal or modify it for your own vision?)
- Identify which steps will make your goal feasible (and a reasonable timeline for implementation)
- Sort and categorize your ideas into a list of “MUST have” versus “WOULD LIKE to have” to help you establish priorities
- Which ideas would be easy and simple to implement?
- Which ideas might require more planning or resources?
For example, the Centers for Disease Control use assessment criteria called the “Social Determinants for Health” that are used to describe the environmental factors that shape human health.
Using the CDC model, goals for “being a healthier person” could range from diet and exercise to:
- changing air filters in your home to reduce the risk of respiratory illnesses
- going back to school to earn an advanced degree so that you can earn a higher income and improve your living conditions
- moving to a neighborhood closer to a park or commuting via public transit to increase the amount of steps you get daily
The "Dimensions of Wellness" model, the assessment criteria used to "become a healthier person" might include:
- deepening your spiritual practice
- going to therapy
- setting more personal boundaries with professional colleagues
- or attending more social functions in an effort to improve the health of your interpersonal relationships
By this point you should start to get a clearer picture of the types of goals you have the capacity to implement and which you’ll need to develop a strategy or get help to implement.
Ultimately, however you choose to set and implement your goals will be dependent upon whether you have the appropriate amount of time, energy, and resources to pursue the goals that you set.
Keep it simple.
Goals that are simple enough to implement when you are busy, have low energy, or can resume quickly if you have to navigate a crisis are going to be the goals you most likely to be successful at.
If your goal is too vague to explain to others or to ask for help, there’s less of a chance you’ll be able to hold yourself accountable or be able to ask for help when you need it.
That being said:
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