Why have a wellness goal at all?
Before setting a wellness goal, consider why you might want to. Having a solid and compelling why will help you keep going when working on your goal gets tough. I think there’s a middle area where you can make your why compelling but not so heavy that you’re devastated if you don’t reach it. For example, it’s not helpful to make your why your kids. Doing the goal for your kids puts so much pressure on you to succeed. If you fail along the way, you’ll likely beat yourself up for it with that kind of heavy why. On the other hand, if you’re not committed and you don’t know your reason, then it will also be hard to keep going. For example, if your friends are setting this goal and you jump in, you likely won’t keep going when it gets challenging if you haven’t decided to commit regardless of what your friends do.
A really healthy way to approach your why for setting a wellness goal is to consider your own personal journey and who you want to be in the future as a woman, wife, or mom.
What is a wellness goal?
Overtime, my perception of “wellness” has changed. It’s so much more than green tea, face masks, and the latest non-toxic products. Wellness includes your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Wellness is very personal to you. For example, you might create boundaries around your phone usage with your kids to increase your connection. This falls into the wellness bucket, but it may not be something everyone does.
When thinking about setting a wellness goal, create it by going inward and identifying what area of wellness you want to change and how. Do you want to work on your physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health? For example, you could set an exercise goal or a goal to stop yelling at your kids. Both will improve your wellness and overall wellbeing.
Types of wellness goals
Here’s a list of examples of wellness goals broken down into categories of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health:
Physical Wellness Goals
- Exercise Regularly: Aim for a specific number of workouts per week.
- Maintain a Balanced Diet: Focus on incorporating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
- Improve Flexibility: Set a goal to do yoga or stretching exercises a certain number of times a week.
- Get Sufficient Sleep: Establish a consistent sleep schedule aiming for a certain number of hours per night.
- Hydrate Well: Drink a designated amount of water each day.
- Reduce Sedentary Time: Aim to take breaks and move around regularly if you have a desk job.
- Manage Weight: Set a target weight and work toward achieving it in a healthy way.
- Build Muscle Strength: Plan weightlifting or resistance training sessions weekly.
- Improve Cardiovascular Health: Incorporate activities that elevate heart rate, like running or cycling, a few times a week.
- Practice Relaxation Techniques: Dedicate time for activities like meditation or deep breathing exercises to reduce stress.
Mental Wellness Goals
- Learn a New Skill: Commit to learning a new language, instrument, or hobby.
- Read Regularly: Set a goal for a number of books or articles to read per month.
- Practice Mindfulness: Allocate time for mindfulness or meditation exercises daily.
- Enhance Focus and Concentration: Use techniques like time-blocking or the Pomodoro method to increase productivity.
- Cultivate Creativity: Schedule time for creative activities such as drawing, painting, or writing.
- Develop Problem-Solving Skills: Engage in puzzles, riddles, or brain teasers regularly.
- Manage Stress Levels: Implement stress-reducing techniques like journaling or nature walks.
- Improve Memory: Engage in memory exercises like memorization or brain-training apps.
- Seek Mental Stimulation: Engage in intellectually stimulating conversations or debates.
- Limit Screen Time: Set boundaries for the amount of time spent on screens to promote mental health.
Emotional Wellness Goals
- Practice Self-Compassion: Be kinder to yourself and avoid self-criticism.
- Express Emotions Freely: Work on expressing feelings openly and honestly.
- Develop Resilience: Learn to bounce back from setbacks more effectively.
- Cultivate Gratitude: Keep a gratitude journal and note things you’re thankful for daily.
- Build Healthy Relationships: Focus on nurturing positive relationships and setting boundaries in toxic ones.
- Practice Empathy: Engage in activities that promote understanding others’ perspectives.
- Manage Anger Constructively: Learn techniques to express anger in healthy ways, like deep breathing or walking away momentarily.
- Foster Optimism: Focus on positive thinking and finding the silver lining in situations.
- Increase Emotional Intelligence: Learn about emotions and work on understanding and managing them better.
- Join A Coaching Program: Consider joining a coaching program help to navigate and manage emotions more effectively.
Spiritual Wellness Goals
- Establish a Meditation Routine: Dedicate time for spiritual reflection or meditation.
- Connect with Nature: Spend time outdoors to connect with the natural world.
- Practice Gratitude and Mindfulness: Focus on being present and thankful for each moment.
- Explore Personal Beliefs: Reflect on personal values and explore their alignment with actions.
- Engage in Community Service: Volunteer for causes that resonate with your spiritual values.
- Attend Spiritual Gatherings: Participate in religious or spiritual services regularly.
- Seek Spiritual Mentorship: Find guidance from spiritual leaders or mentors.
- Practice Forgiveness: Work on forgiving yourself and others to promote inner peace.
- Create a Sacred Space: Designate an area at home for spiritual practice or reflection.
- Journaling for Reflection: Write about thoughts, feelings, and spiritual insights regularly.
How to make wellness goals attainable
When it comes to setting wellness goals that you’ll actually achieve, the key is to make them personal. By following the five steps below, you’ll see how you can create the best type of wellness goal for you, making it much more likely that you’ll succeed!
1. Meet yourself where you are.
It can be tempting to set many goals all at once even though you already feel overwhelmed at the end of the day (and week).
Consider how you normally feel on an average day and instead of trying to set goals based on what you think you *SHOULD* be able to accomplish, start small and meet yourself where you are.
For example, don’t set 10 goals to start all at once. Set one goal, and once you accomplish that, you can set another and another. This way the momentum builds and you keep going
2. Come up with a doable action plan.
It’s one thing to think about setting wellness goals, but it’s an entirely different thing to do them. Get started by writing down your goal and creating the best first steps to take. Then once you do those, plan a few more steps. And so on. You don’t need to have your entire plan ahead of time, but you do need to take action.
3. Be kind to yourself.
If you’re setting a goal it’s because you don’t already have that result. This means, by definition, you haven’t achieved the thing you’re wanting to achieve. From this place, it can be easy to go into lack, judgment, and “it’s never going to work” or “I’m not cut out for this” mode. So, plan ahead by creating a list of mantras you can think about yourself to be kind and compassionate when things aren’t going your way. How do you want to treat yourself when you make a mistake, get it all wrong, or fail? Decide that on purpose, otherwise, you may end up being really self critic
4. Evaluate with three questions.
The formula I like to use for evaluation is:
What worked?
What didn’t work?
What can I try next?
This is simple, doable, and will keep you moving forward, instead of getting stuck. You can use these questions with any goal.
5. Imagine yourself achieving it.
Instead of waiting to see results to believe you’re going to achieve your wellness goal, start visualizing your success now. This means thinking about who you’ll be with the result, then asking that version of you how you created the result. The clearer you are about who you’re becoming the more likely you’ll be to create it.