There is something about a new year and a fresh start (especially this year with a fresh decade) that encourages us to set goals to be the best versions of ourselves. There is also something about trying to put those lofty expectations into practice that leaves those goals gathering dust by this time. While I do write a bit about goal setting specifics, especially as it relates to physical health, I also pay a lot of attention to consistency. And a huge key to being consistent is being able to re-evaluate and redirect when it comes to goals.

Re-evaluation is important for any type of goal. So I thought I’d share a bit about my 2020 goals and how I have already re-worked some of them to give myself a better shot at success. Several have gone through a “re-boot” and no two solutions were exactly the same. But that’s the point. Goals are work and its work over time that leads to success. Which means you need to change things to set yourself up for success.

I use the Dimensions of Wellness model to goal set every year. This is my fourth year goal setting this way, and I still really enjoy it. This year under my Physical Health Dimension, I set the goal of increasing either my workout durations or intensities on a consistent basis. My son is four and as any parent of a small child will attest, they take a lot of time and attention. So while I have kept my workout frequency at five times per week since he was three months old, many of my workouts have been much shorter or less intense than they used to be.

Those shorter and less intense workouts were what I needed to do to stay consistent. But, now that he is a bit older, I am able to dedicate more time to my workouts. Now, the problem here is that I fell into the New Year’s diet/exercise mindset everyone else does. I expected to be able to make the transition right away. See, no one is immune.

So how did I re-evaluate? I changed my expectations. By this point at least 2-3 of my workouts per week are either longer or more intense. So that’s half in about eight weeks. For a working mom, that’s pretty darn good. Why did I have to do it right away? I didn’t. So now, I’m looking to get four out of five where I want them in the next eight weeks. And the double bonus here is that after 16 weeks, I’ll have ingrained a great habit and I won’t need to keep this on my list for 2021.

Under my Mental Health Dimensions, my big goal was to return to my gratitude journaling practice. Germany was an awesome experience, but it was also hard. And some little habits fell by the wayside. It was hard to keep up with this. And, if I’m being really honest, I was living in Germany, it was easy to be grateful on the daily.

But once you are out of a habit, you have to work to get back to it. I noticed that I was still missing too many days per week. And as I have written before, practicing daily gratitude might be the easiest thing we can do for our mental health. I knew this needed to be daily, so I set a reminder on my phone. Having an actual alarm has helped immensely. And hopefully by the end of the year, I won’t need it.

Under my Intellectual Health Dimension, I had set a goal to dust off my Spanish skills. Trying to learn German last year reminded me how much I enjoyed learning a language and how useful a skill it can be. So even though I had six years of Spanish in high school and college, my skills had gotten muy rusty. My goal was to practice using the DuoLingo app five times per week.

I’m sure you guys can guess how that turned out. DuoLingo practice was the easiest thing to get cut out of my day when things just got cray-cray. So I was looking at my tracker and seeing only one or two practice sessions per week and feeling bummed. But, again, I tried for the positive spin. I was still getting practice and somewhat consistently. I typically tried for two lessons per session. So I decided to tweak my goal and hit 10 lessons per week instead. Now I am aiming for the same amount of practice, but if I have to split that into 3 times per week, I can.

One of my best success stories as a trainer/coach came with a client who had been in an accident. She had been released from physical therapy, but still didn’t have much function. Her goal was simply to be able to walk from her car to my office (about 200 meters depending on where she parked). We made a plan and she was the most consistent client I have had to date. But she had set backs and plenty of them. We would re-evaluate and start from where she was. And after 9 months, when she made that 200 meter walk, I could not have been more proud.

Through all of my years working with clients, I have never seen anyone hit their goal, whatever it happened to be, without needing to re-evaluate. Perseverance cannot be underestimated because life is going to happen. I think the cool kids call this “grit” nowadays. My point is just that no goal is achievable if you don’t re-evaluate.

So, tell us in the comments, which goals would you like to re-evaluate and what changes do you think you can implement to set yourself up for success?

Until next time, be well friends!

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