Research shows that about 5 out of 10 people give up on their New Year's health goals by the middle of January. With the right resources and support, it is possible to reach and even surpass your fitness, food or stress management health goals all year long.
An action plan is a simple, effective tool that can help you to set SMART health goals and stay on track with achieving them.
SPECIFIC. If your resolution is to work out more, what does that really mean? Make your goal more specific by choosing a work out you enjoy such as walking, running or taking the stairs.
MEASURABLE. You want to be able to mark your progress so instead of saying "I want to walk more" say "I want to walk 10,000 steps three days a week".
ATTAINABLE. Choose a goal that is not too difficult or too easy. If you choose to walk 20,000 steps a day when you usually walk 5,000 steps on a normal day, you’ll probably give up very quickly if you can’t keep up.
RELEVANT. Choose a goal that is meaningful to and set by you, not by someone else. Instead of choosing to go the gym because that’s where your best friend goes to work out, decide to walk because you love to explore your surroundings and take pictures.
TIMEBOUND. Make sure you give yourself a set time to achieve your goal, usually a week. That way, you can track incremental changes towards your goal. The more you achieve, the more you can expand your goals, and the more confident you’ll feel. Don’t choose a time far away as you’d be tempted to avoid consistency.
Use this action plan template to help document your SMART health goals.
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BCHN health educator Nana Adenu-Mensah explains how to make SMART health goals in the video below.