We all have many activities in which we hope to succeed throughout our days, be it in our work, health, fitness, family, or travels. An important way to achieve success is to set goals.
For example, if I want to run a marathon someday, I should write a goal that I hope to run a marathon within a specific time frame.The next step is to create small goals that will help lead me to achieving success in running a marathon. These small goals may include running a 5k, then a 10k, and then a half marathon by specific deadlines. Breaking down our big goals into smaller pieces establishes a pathway for us to follow in our journey.
Once our pathway of goals is set, we must act on our goals. Ask yourself what needs to be done to help you achieve your small goals. Referring back to our running example above, actions including strength training, stretching, and running will be required to achieve the first goal of running a 5k. Be sure to write down your action plan to further map out your pathway to success.
Although I am using a running example above, goal setting can be extremely useful in all categories of our lives. The key points are to write down what task it is you hope to accomplish and then break it down into smaller pieces. If we don’t have specific targets to hit in our journey of accomplishing our overall goal, we are more likely to fall off the pathway to success. As Pablo Picasso says, ““Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
At Colorado In Motion, we are passionate about helping you to achieve success. We enjoy collaborating with you to create an individualized pathway of short term and long term goals. If you have any further questions about goal setting, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your therapist. Happy goal setting!
Dr. Katie Hall is a physical therapist at Colorado In Motion