Setting healthy goals that come from the heart

If you’ve ever reached the end of the year, or a certain time frame, and thought about the goals you didn’t achieve, it’s possible your expectations were too high. When your goals are too broad, or your expectations are too high, you leave yourself open to failure. How can you achieve goals that aren’t achievable?

The key to success and achieving goals is to ensure they’re set from the heart: a place of compassion where self-care is a key motivator. It’s healthy to have goals, aspirations and ideas to work towards, but when these goals become unattainable, the onset of failure can leave you feeling hopeless and frustrated.

Katie, writer from Life Coach Directory teamed up with Bounce to explore how you can have a successful and fulfilling 2019, pursuing your achievable dreams.

How to set healthy goals from the heartVestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus

What is your goal motivator?

When setting goals, it’s important to ask yourself what is your motivation behind each individual one. Be sure you’re setting each goal for yourself, to reflect on your life and aren’t reaching for a goal you think you ‘should’ have at a certain age or time in your life. Try and answer what’s important to you as honestly as possible.

What does success look like?

A goal can be as simple as preparing your lunches the night before or taking your makeup off every night. However big or small, it’s your goal and it’s important and relevant to you. So when setting these, be clear on what you want to achieve from the goal and what a successful accomplishment looks like to you.

For example, setting the goal ‘I want to eat more healthily’, is great but it’s unclear. What is the end goal here? As human beings, we typically need something measurable to track how successful we are. So instead of ‘eating healthy’, change your goal to, ‘reduce chocolate intake with healthy alternatives’ eg Bounce balls’ Simple Swaps. So instead of reaching for a chocolate bar everyday, try introducing a Dark Chocolate Bounce ball, a nutritious alternative to satisfy your craving for a sweet treat.

Another example of clear goal setting could be, ‘take part in meat-free Mondays’ instead of ‘reduce your meat intake’. In both examples you’ve given yourself a measurable unit and a clear, realistic goal to aim for.

Set rewards

Celebrate the big, small and in-between wins to keep yourself motivated. Big goals can be quite daunting, and we are loathed to start them, seeing the end milestone as unachievable. Breaking your goals down into manageable, realistic steps with a reward or mini celebration on completion allows yourself time to work through each step thoroughly.

Realistic timeframes

Another hurdle many of us face is time. A longer-term goal or lifestyle change in particular, like learning a new skill or maintaining healthy habits, takes time and practice. You need to consider your current lifestyle, how the change will affect current routine and if you can realistically incorporate it into your life. Some of these changes may even require professional guidance, like a nutritionist or life coach.

For example, you may have always wanted to take on the London marathon, but the thought of 26.2 miles is enough of a non-starter. Break this goal down into realistic steps.

Enter yourself into a half marathon later in the year. Start training by taking on the local park runs, running with a friend or beating your time from the last run until you eventually get to the big event. Having celebrated the small wins along the way, you’ll be in a much better position, calm and prepared to take on the half marathon in preparation for a full marathon.

Ask for support

Recruit your nearest and dearest and give them a clear understanding on what you’re hoping to achieve, how you’re going to do this and what they can do to support you on your journey.

Getting your loved ones on board can help keep your motivation ticking, your goals clear and your willpower strong. When things may not be going to plan, your support group will be able to keep your motivational spark alight, supporting you as you get back up.

So go forth and good luck!

Written by Katie at Life Coach Directory, connecting over 2,000 professional life coaches with the general public nationwide. Visit their dedicated Motivation page for support with goal setting, motivation and inspiration.