Whether you’re trying to sleep better, eat healthier, or increase your physical activity, the road to wellbeing is often paved with good intentions that somehow veer off track. It's not enough to have fragmented aspirations or even clearly defined goals. What you need is a holistic approach to make your wellbeing objectives not just achievable but sustainable.
In this article, we'll explore how to set SMART goals that provide a concrete roadmap for your wellbeing journey. We will also delve into the science of habit formation—understanding how your brain works to either facilitate or impede your progress. Lastly, we will look at crafting a vision for your overall wellbeing, one that encompasses both short-term actions and long-term plans.
Why Planning Matters in Wellbeing
Initiating a new health regimen without a concrete plan is a bit like setting sail without a compass—you may move, but not necessarily in the direction you intended. Planning takes vague aspirations and turns them into concrete actions. Instead of simply saying, "I want to get fit," a well-crafted plan hones in on this objective and transforms it into a more tangible goal, such as committing to a 30-minute jog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work.
SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—act as a powerful tool to sharpen your focus on wellbeing. Imagine your wellbeing as a puzzle, with each piece representing different aspects like physical fitness, nutrition, or mental health. And just like a puzzle box picture guides you in fitting each piece together, a well-crafted plan guides you in aligning your wellbeing goals and strategies.
Planning is not only about sticking to a rigid schedule, but it also offers flexibility. Life is full of surprises and unexpected events, and your initial plan may need adjustments along the way. With a structured approach, however, you can adapt without losing sight of your goals. For instance, if you can't make it to the gym, you can easily switch to a home workout and still maintain your commitment to regular exercise.
Contrary to popular belief, planning doesn't have to be a tedious or restrictive task. In fact, it can be an empowering tool that brings clarity, direction, and adaptability to your wellbeing journey. It allows you to navigate through the uncertainties of life while staying focused on your ultimate objectives.
The SMART Way to Set Goals
Ambiguous or unrealistic goals can be a roadblock on your wellness journey, but SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—can steer you back on track. Research suggests that SMART goals can help improve outcomes in health interventions, from better medication adherence to increased levels of physical activity.
Here's how to make SMART goals work for you, complete with an array of examples:
- Specific: Start with crystal-clear objectives. Popular healthy habit goals might include:
- Walking 10,000 steps a day
- Drinking eight cups of water daily
- Sleeping at least 7 hours each night
- Burning 300 calories through exercise four times a week
- Eating within an 8-hour window for time-restricted eating
- Maintaining a specific daily calorie intake
- Measurable: Tracking is crucial. Whether it's a pedometer for steps, a water bottle with measurements for hydration, or a fitness tracker that monitors calories burned during exercise, measurement is key.
- Achievable: Set attainable goals. If burning 300 calories in a workout session seems too high, try starting with 150 calories and gradually ramp up.
- Relevant: Your goal should align with your broader health objectives. If weight loss is the main aim, tracking calories burned during exercise would be especially relevant.
- Time-bound: Apply a timeline to add urgency. For instance, "I will burn at least 1200 calories through exercise each week for the next month" or "I aim to maintain my daily 2000-calorie intake for the next two weeks."
By adhering to the SMART framework, you remove guesswork and gain a science-backed roadmap for your wellness journey. Each goal becomes a manageable, relevant task that not only fits into your lifestyle but also aligns with your broader wellbeing objectives.
The Neuroscience of Habits
When it comes to sustaining wellbeing, understanding your habits and not just setting goals, is crucial. While SMART goals can serve as your roadmap, it is your habits that that will determine whether you are able to stick to the roadmap and achieve your wellbeing goals.
The Habit Loop Unveiled
At its core, every habit involves a loop of three key elements:
- Trigger: An event that initiates the habit.
- Routine: The action you take following the trigger.
- Reward: The benefit or pleasure derived from the routine.
For instance, let us consider a simple wellbeing habit of taking a 10-minute walk after dinner. The act of finishing your meal (trigger) prompts you to go for a walk (routine), culminating in a feeling of physical and mental refreshment (reward).
The Brain’s Role in Habits
Now, let us add a layer of neuroscience to this framework. The basal ganglia, an older part of the brain responsible for automatic responses, plays a pivotal role in habit formation. Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex, the brain's decision-making centre, takes a back seat once a habit is ingrained. This system is efficient but can be a double-edged sword when trying to change established habits.
The concept of neuroplasticity, our brain's ability to rewire itself, comes into play when building new habits. Yet, breaking old habits is challenging because existing neural pathways don't just disappear; they become less active but can be reactivated easily.
Leveraging Habit Loops
Understanding the habit loop and the neuroscience behind it arms you with powerful tools for change:
- Identify Existing Triggers: Utilise triggers already integrated into your daily life. If you have a morning coffee ritual, use it as a trigger to initiate a new habit like mindfulness, gratitude journalling or doing focused-breathing exercises.
- Start Small and Be Consistent: The brain adapts better to small, consistent changes, thanks to neuroplasticity. If your goal is to drink eight glasses of water a day, start with one or two and progressively build up.
- Associate Immediate Rewards: Immediate rewards, like tracking your actions in an app, stimulate the release of dopamine. This neurotransmitter reinforces the habit loop, making it more likely for the habit to stick.
- Consistency is Crucial: Creating a regular schedule for your new habit maximises the brain's love for patterns. This repeated action strengthens neural pathways and reinforces the habit, making it second nature.
- Challenge and Adapt: As your habits solidify and you achieve your initial SMART goals, don’t settle. Take this opportunity to update your objectives. This not only prevents plateauing but also encourages additional neural rewiring to accommodate your new challenges.
By using and adapting habit loops, you move beyond just setting goals to making lasting changes. This evidence-based approach can help you build and maintain new habits more effectively, making your wellbeing goals more achievable and sustainable.
Keeping Score & Checking-In
You've set your SMART goals and understood the neuroscience behind habit formation. These lay the groundwork for your wellbeing journey. However, building a habit is just the first step. The other crucial component is tracking your progress and making regular assessments—what we like to call 'keeping score.'
Why Tracking Matters
Whether it's a fitness tracker to count steps or a sleep monitor, quantifiable data act as immediate rewards, satisfying the brain’s need for positive reinforcement in a habit loop. This tangible feedback strengthens the neural pathways behind new habits and boosts motivation.
The Role of Benchmarks and Milestones
To fully benefit from tracking, identify benchmarks that align with your SMART goals. If your objective is to walk 10,000 steps a day, start with reachable milestones like 2,500 steps, then 5,000, and so on. Achieving these boosts dopamine levels in your brain, further reinforcing the habit loop.
Integrating into Daily Routines
Habit loops start with triggers. Make your tracking tools a constant part of your daily routine. This could mean checking your sleep tracker while you make your morning coffee, checking your fitness tracker post-lunch or recording your water intake with the last sip.
Adapt, Refine, and Reassess
Your metrics will reveal behavioural patterns over time. These insights are invaluable. If you consistently miss your sleep goals, perhaps it's time to set a new habit loop focused on winding down before bed. Regular check-ins aren't an admission of defeat; they're waypoints to assess, adjust, and set new targets. If you’ve easily met your goal of burning 300 calories four times a week, why not aim for 400?
Tips For Check-Ins
- Celebrate Wins: Small victories like sticking to your calorie count for a week deserve acknowledgment.
- Identify Roadblocks: Work lunches disrupting your calorie count? Find workarounds, such as packing your lunch.
- Set New Benchmarks: As you make progress, elevate your targets to keep things challenging.
Vision and Values
While SMART goals and regular check-ins are essential tools in your wellbeing toolkit, they become exponentially more effective when aligned with a long-term vision. Without a bigger picture in mind, even the smartest goals can turn into a series of disjointed tasks, lacking direction and purpose.
But how do you craft a vision for your wellbeing?
Here are some steps to guide you:
- Identify Core Values: What really matters to you? Is it longevity, mental clarity, physical strength? Understanding your core values helps you set goals that truly resonate with you.
- Visualise Success: Take a moment to picture what 'peak wellbeing' looks like for you. This mental image serves as both motivation and a guidepost for setting your SMART goals.
- Map It Out: Create a visual representation of your vision. This could be a vision board, a flowchart, or even a list. This tangible representation serves as a daily reminder of your ultimate objectives.
- Long-Term Milestones: Break your vision down into long-term milestones, such as a one-year, three-year, five-year or even decade-long objectives. These guide your shorter-term SMART goals.
- Regular Revisits: Just as you would with SMART goals, set aside time periodically to revisit and revise your long-term vision. Life circumstances change, and so can your vision.
From Aspiration to Transformation
Setting goals for wellbeing is a crucial first step, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. The real work lies in making these goals a lasting part of your life, and that's where the power of habits and neuroscience comes in. By understanding not just what you want to achieve but how habits are formed and sustained, you move from wishful thinking to structured planning and action.
We've examined the critical role of SMART goals and regular check-ins to provide a tangible roadmap. We delved into the science of habit formation, explaining how our brains function to either support or inhibit these wellbeing efforts. Finally, we considered the importance of long-term vision and planning. When these elements are used together, they do more than improve individual habits; they help you make an overall lifestyle change for better wellbeing.
Wellbeing shouldn't be a fleeting target but an enduring state of life, achievable through a blend of targeted goals, neuroscience-backed habit formation, and ongoing adaptability. As you move forward, consider how each piece fits into your larger wellbeing puzzle, and remember: this is not a one-off sprint but a marathon that requires preparation, commitment, and most importantly, a deep understanding of yourself, both mentally and physically.
