The most challenging part of changing our eating habits isn’t necessarily to not force ourselves to eat foods that we don’t like, but rather in goal setting and how we set these goals.
When you think of goals in relation to your health and wellness, what comes to mind? I bet they are big or grand ideas that seem challenging, too hard to achieve, time consuming, or possibly even “impossible” to your mind.
That’s because they’re likely goals that are too big to start out with. In order to create new habits, we need to select goals that are small, simple, step oriented, and achievable. This is where the term SMART goal come in.
SMART goals are goals that are:
(S)pecific: The exact goal you are trying to accomplish. Answers the who, what, where, and when of the goal.
(M)easurable: Realistic milestones that lead to your goal and demonstrate your progress along the way.
(A)ttainable: Asking yourself if the goal is realistic and achievable, or whether it is too overarching.
(R)elevant: Whether the goal is relevant to your lifestyle and worth your time right now.
(T)ime-based: Setting a timeline for achieving your goal and steps towards your goal.
What happens when we set goals that are grand or take too long of a time to achieve? We fall into a trap within our own mind that brings us into a failure mindset or causes us to give up. Large goals can essentially set us up to be unsuccessful. SMART goals on the other hand, can simplify our goal setting so that we can create more manageable goals in a step-wise style that lead us to eventually reach our ultimate goal.
Download our free SMART Goal Setting Worksheet to help get you started.
If you need further support in setting or achieving your nutrition and wellness goals, feel free to reach out to the One Bite Nutrition team!
