Break It Down: Tracking Resolution Goals
Written by Cassandra Curado
The initial intention to make a goal is the first and often easiest step. The challenges then come along the pursuit towards your goal as you try to maintain the new habits you’ve worked so hard at. The most commonly known way to manage and track your goal progress is to break it down into smaller steps. However, through research we’ve come to learn that only focusing on the smaller subgoals won’t help you maintain and reach your overall goal. In fact, it’s just as important to reflect on your overall goal throughout your pursuit.
Goals
Having a goal is often about feeling committed towards achieving some desired version of yourself. This overall goal (AKA superordinate goal) is based on an ideal image you want and value. For example, this could include anything from being healthy to having a better relationship with yourself. Though these are great ideals to want for yourself, they’re far too vague to achieve. When you’re faced with the goal of being healthy, what does this mean to you, how does this look, and how could you achieve this? When you create specific actions to take, you end up feeling more motivated to pursue your goal.
You’ve created the goal to be healthy, but when you only focus on this abstract idea it can feel overwhelming to figure out where to start. However, when you break a goal down into smaller steps it can feel far more manageable to achieve. As you create your plan, think about the areas of your life that contribute to your success with this goal. If we think about the goal of being healthy, within this goal you may want to consider improving your diet, exercise and sleep. From there you can then divide these into specific and attainable subgoals. A subgoal gives you a specific action of what to do and how to do it. For example, if you’re wanting to exercise more to become healthier, you may have a subgoal of going for a walk every day after work.
Whether you’re trying to set an overall goal or a specific subgoal it’s important to be SMART with the goals you set. Researchers suggest that a meaningful goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound. Following this framework will help you set personally attainable goals, while boosting your motivation and confidence to maintain these behaviours.
The Pursuit of a Goal is Dynamic
Researchers have explained time and time again that breaking your goals into smaller subgoals will boost your motivation and persistence towards reaching your long term goal. Subgoals give you a clear path and vision for your larger goal, while bringing you incentives along your journey as your goal seems more attainable with each step. However, when you only focus on each subgoal you can become too narrow-focused and begin to lose motivation for the bigger picture you desire.
The issue here is thinking of your goal progress as an unchanging process. The pursuit of any goal is dynamic and forever changing. From the point of forming your goal to actually achieving it, you’ll be faced with different challenges and obstacles along the way. The initial motivation for your goal, likely won’t be the same thing motivating you to maintain your goal long term.
Though subgoals are great ways to boost your motivation when you first take action towards your goal, it’s just as important to reflect on your overall goal to maintain your new habits. If you focus only on your subgoals, you run the risk of losing sight of what these subgoals are helping you achieve. If you focus only on your overall goal, you can feel overwhelmed and discouraged to even begin this journey. Throughout your goal pursuit, check in with yourself and reflect on your overall goal. When you make connections between your subgoals and your overall goal, you can help maintain the new habits you’ve formed and visualize your progress to the desired outcome.
Tracking Your Goals for Success
We now know that overall goals and subgoals are interconnected and work together to help you feel motivated towards achieving your ideal self. One of the ways subgoals boost your motivation is through the incentives they bring you along the way. Every time you accomplish a subgoal you’re able to easily track your progress, while boosting your self-confidence to succeed with your overall goal. In many cases, the goals we set are long term life goals that exist far in the future. Along your journey towards this desire, it’s easy to lose sight of all the progress you’ve made along the way. Here are some tips to track your progress and hold yourself accountable throughout your goal pursuit.
Visualize Your Goals
What does your goal look like? How will you know you’ve achieved your goal?
Create a vision board to better visualize your long term goal
2. Track Your Progress
Write out your subgoals and track your progress towards your overall goal
Create a log, chart, or bullet journal to track your journey and celebrate your progress
3. Support from Others
Telling family or friends about your plan can encourage you to persist towards accomplishing your goal
If you have a similar goal as someone in your life, consider working towards that goal together
4. Celebrate Your Success
Working towards a goal takes hard work, making it important to reward yourself along the way
Ex. If you’ve been cooking more at home to be healthy, reward yourself with a new cookbook to celebrate and encourage persistence
Having a therapist can help you stick to your goals and stay motivated by having someone to keep you accountable. If you want to meet with one of our skilled therapists, you can book a free 20-minute consultation here.