So far, so good ! My Winter Solstice ‘resolution’ to get back on track with writing weekly emails is working … I know it’s only been a couple of months, but by setting the bar at a reasonable level and giving myself a pat on the back for sitting down to do this, I’m feeling a (small) sense of pride and achievement. 

And THAT feeling is one of the magic ingredients to building and then maintaining your goal. 

Why would something so puny be so effective, I hear you ask? In fact, you might even be saying something like ‘Big deal – 2 emails in a row … if I give Liz a pat on the back or a thumbs up, she’ll get slack again.’

Well, the evidence in mindfulness and neuroscience is clear that acknowledging small wins and incremental gains builds positive neural pathways in the brain that make it easier for us to keep up the new, positive behaviour towards the goal.

Conversely, cracking the whip and making critical comments (to yourself or someone else) about what a long, hard road it’s going to be and you’ll probably never stick with it, and don’t think you can slack off and so on (in other words, trying to motivate with criticism and harshness) creates stress in the system. It might work in the short term, but in the end the stress can undermine your attempts by making it a chore and not feeling like you’ll ever get there or be good enough … and that pressure trips you up.

I’m part of the team at Monash University Faculty of Medicine where we teach the first year medical students how to pace themselves to achieve big goals AND stay the distance without burning out or giving up.

One of the tools we give the students is how to set a goal, such as staying focused on their study or handling stress or getting more exercise or eating healthier or getting enough sleep, by setting it up as a SMART Goal.*

You might have heard of SMART Goal setting – it’s very effective and I love sharing it with my clients as well. 

Last week, a new client wanted to go to the gym but somehow never got there. We set it up as a SMART Goal and I asked her to send me a text when she achieves each little step, and I send back a 👍🏻 to her or text her a ‘Well done!’.

Another client recently was struggling with procrastination – he wanted to get his shed organised but it was so overwhelming that he’d been avoiding it for a looooong time. Negative self-talk hadn’t helped and only added to the stress and feeling of failure.

We broke it down into smaller, realistic steps and set up a SMART Goal, and he’s making real inroads. You can imagine the feeling of achievement and energy that’s being generated as he chips away at something that seemed impossible. 

Small steps and positive reinforcement get results!

* Have you been avoiding something or feeling stuck somewhere in your life?

Then email and we’ll set up a FREE 10 minute Zoom chat so I can walk you through how to turn your block into a SMART Goal!