What do you really want? How to set the right goals for you.

I have regular conversations with all my clients about their goals and even though there are often similar themes, every single goal is one hundred percent individual to them.

Today we can often feel pressure to set big goals that actually might not be right for us. We're all motivated by different things and want different things for our own lives. It's important when you're setting goals for yourself that you do the work to understand what you really want and what is realistic for you at this point in your life. Reaching goals is difficult and you will encounter obstacles along the way. If the goal isn't truly yours, you will find it much harder to put in the work to get there. Here are 3 questions you can ask yourself when you're setting your own goals:

1. Is this your goal? Is the goal you have set yourself your goal or someone else's? Know yourself. Is the goal realistic for you? For example you might decide you want to do a triathlon this year. But, you've never properly rode a bike, ran more than a mile or swam more than a couple of lengths in the pool on holiday! So is this really your goal or are you just inspired by the dedication and discipline of triathletes? Or it could be that it's January and you're being bombarded by weight loss advertising so you decide that you should set yourself weight loss goal too. But is it really something you want, or are you doing it because you think you should? 2. How long will the goal take? If your goal is to run a 10k in under 50 minutes, how much extra time will you need to dedicate each week to achieve this by the date you've decided? What else do you have going on? What your priorities? You might have a busy job, caring responsibilities for family members/children, or you might do another sport. Can you find an extra hour a week, two or more? What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goal and what are your non-negotiables? Do the benefits of dedicating more time and energy outweigh the potential costs? 3. What are the potential obstacles? Knowing what obstacles you might encounter along the way, will help you to create strategies to overcome them. 'Forewarned is forearmed' as they say! Baby steps Big long-term goals are fantastic but they can also feel overwhelming. To overcome this overwhelm, it helps to break down your big goal (the outcome) into smaller process goals. So you focus on the little daily habits that move you forward every day towards achieving the bigger goal. Achieving goals requires work every day. By writing down your goals and keeping them somewhere where you can see them every day, you're giving yourself a constant reminder of why you're doing what you're doing. Below is a link to a free goal setting worksheets that will help you get started. Goal Setting Worksheet Trust the process! Goals change As you go through different stages in your life your priorities will change and so will your goals. Don't be stubborn! ;-) It's important to be flexible and to adapt your goals when you need to. It might be that you change jobs, get injured or go through a life-changing event. It's all part of the process. Two questions for you:

1. Have you set goals for yourself?

2. How realistic are your goals?

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