Something that's come up a bit lately in my discussions with other people is setting goals to help create change. And my impression both of my own experience and in talking to others, is that the term gets used pretty generally without getting down to the nuts and bolts of it.
Another online weight loss comrade of mine, Rhonda, was talking about goal setting. It made me stop and think about the fact that my very first journal entry was setting goals. I remember sitting down on that day, before I ever thought I might put it online, and deciding that I had to get specific because I'd been saying to myself for a long time 'I want to lose weight', and not really doing anything about it. I would have a mental struggle when I ate, or when I chose what I was going to eat, but without a more structured plan I kept failing abysmally to make any real changes.
So, I thought it might be useful to reflect back on what I did that worked for me in that first journal entry. I think I did get pretty specific about what things I was going to do - join weight watchers, join tennis, join yoga (which I didn't do) and get my feet checked out by a podiatrist. So even though I didn't fulfil all my goals, I still have worked toward my bigger goals of getting healthy and losing weight. The feet thing was important because it was getting in the way of me exercising, which has been an important part of losing weight. Joining weight watchers I think has provided some extra structure that has assisted me in keeping focussed. I'm loving tennis and getting better and playing more often - all great stuff!
But I realised that setting and pursuing goals has gone deeper than that. I know from talking to a lot of people online, that while they have joined WW or a similar programme, they are having difficulty keeping to the guidelines of their programme.
One of the key things about goal setting, is that it's not just the initial moment of stating your goals that counts. When you do that, it's important to think about how you're going to monitor your progress, and how and when you're going to review your progress. Of course there are going to be times when you don't manage to stick to heading the way you intended (and I know I've discussed some of these incidents in my journey so far). But I believe it's vitally important to learn from these experiences - which is part of the ongoing process of goal setting and goal review. I know a lot of people who say "I had a bad week, but I'm going to be really focussed this week". Seems to me that is a missed opportunity to learn. Sit down and work out why you lost focus, what you could have done differently, what are the danger places, foods, and people for you. You need to get your programme working for you, individualise it to your needs.
When I started, I did my tracker absolutely religiously every single day. I included fat and calories as well because I'm trying to keep my fat content low for my cholesteroal level, so other people may or may not think this is useful. At the end of each week, I added up and got an average, and I would compare between weeks. I looked at higher point days and worked out what happened. I used the information to give me more knowledge about how to keep changing my behaviour. I know some people don't work out their tracker on days when they know they've gone significantly over points and again I think it's a missed opportunity to learn. You need to know where you're going wrong - not to punish yourself, but to work out how to improve. This is a learning curve, and it's the feedback about the mistakes which is one of the most important sources of information.
Anyway, I've just consulted Flopsy about whether I'm sounding a bit too prescriptive in this entry - after all I am still learning all this stuff too! But it has been so helpful to me, both in my weight loss and in other areas of my life, to learn how to really set goals. I spent a lot of time floundering in the same place, or taking one step forward and two steps back. Having gradually become more and more disciplined in my goal setting, however, has enabled me to make changes, and also to feel more confident in my ability to do so (increasing my internal locus of control!).
Anyway, off to finish getting prepared for the work week ahead. Have a good one all, and I'll update my progress on Tuesday night.