After you set most goals, success depends on what comes next. If you're diligent and driven to follow through, you're well on your way. And reaching health goals is no different.
Health goals test your motivation. If you make a sustained effort to keep pushing yourself, you boost the odds of success.
The trick with reaching health goals — from losing weight to managing stress to sleeping better — is knowing that they require ongoing commitment. There's no quick fix.
"There are unique challenges with health goals," said Melissa Jaeger, head of nutrition at MyFitnessPal, a nutrition and food tracking app. "They are far less tangible and more personal than business goals."
And reaching health goals is up to you. You can often delegate a business goal or enlist a team to help you achieve it, Jaeger says. But if you're trying to exercise more or adopt another healthy habit, you can't outsource it.
To attain health goals, dig deep to confirm your commitment to work hard, overcome obstacles and stay the course. How can you maximize your odds of hitting your health-related targets?
Shape Up Your Thinking To Reach Health Goals
Start in the right frame of mind. "Change is really hard," said Dr. Barry Rotman, a physician in Walnut Creek, Calif. "It has to come from a position of strength, equilibrium or being in a good place in your life."
Over his 35-year career as an internist, he has found that patients with the emotional reserve to make lasting lifestyle changes are more apt to attain their stated goals.
If you're struggling with mental health issues — or depleted or distracted in other ways — you're at a disadvantage as you try to gather the energy to change.
Look For The Right Health Goals
Think journey, not end point. You can set an ambitious goal and achieve it. But that's only half the battle.
"It's not the destination," said Rotman, founder of Banner Peak Health, a concierge primary care practice. "It's how you live your life every day."
If you set a weight-loss goal, for example, the true test isn't whether you achieve that arbitrary figure, Rotman says. It's your ability to maintain that lower weight by adopting healthy eating, exercising and sleeping habits.
Take It Slow
Go bit by bit. When establishing health goals, it's common to ride a wave of enthusiasm at first. Eager to make big changes, you set multiple lofty goals.
Yet your grand vision for a better you can backfire. Beware of taking an "overhaul everything at once" approach, Jaeger says. It's better to focus on one goal at a time and advance step by step toward it.
Choose Smart Health Goals
Stick to validated goals. Declaring a health goal based on an impulsive reaction to your social media feed is risky. Hype can prove hard to resist.
"There's lots of misinformation out there," Jaeger said. "If you come across something online, (you should) consult with your doctor, personal trainer or registered dietitian," not just set a goal based on advice from a self-declared expert making alluring claims.
Motivation matters. If you're invested in the outcome, you're more likely to treat the goal seriously.
Ask yourself, "How important and relevant is this goal to me?"
"Is it a goal you want to achieve for yourself or is it something you've been told to do by a friend, family member or physician?" Jaeger said. "There needs to be intrinsic motivation behind the goal" for you to succeed.
Know Your Limits
Push, but not too hard. Determined to achieve your goal, you can adopt unsustainable routines that endanger your health. Dramatic lifestyle changes can work against you.
Endurance athletes, for example, are prone to "overtraining syndrome." Fatigue takes hold and stymies their progress.
