As Osteopaths we consider that many aspects of a person’s life contribute to their health. Optimising health goes beyond just simply becoming pain free and can benefit not only the way we feel, but also our productivity, the choices we make and even influence the capacity with which we value our lives and empathise with those around us.
SMART goals are a useful tool that can be applied through the biopsychosocial model of health care that work to improve the biological, psychological, and social factors that are associated with better health outcomes.
To establish effective goals can be broken down as Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.
Once you have a goal, you can use the SMART acronym to:
– define the intended outcome as exactly as possible (specific);
– quantify the goal to measure progress (measurable);
– make the goal challenging but avoid anything too extreme (attainable),
– avoid overcomplicating the requirements so they are easy to reproduce (realistic); and
– specify the date of completion that is realistic but not too far in the future.
These parameters help to define the process of how you will do something, to move past the idea of wanting to do something and get the intended result.
Last year a family member of mine decided that they wanted more regular family time and so organised Sunday dinner at her house (specific), that occurred once every month (measurable), described that it is a casual get-together with no pressure to come every month (attainable), enforced a bring-nothing rule intended to streamline events (realistic) and sent monthly emails to remind us that the date is in the first weekend of the month (timely). This was an example of SMART goals applied in a social context. Other social aspects this can be applied to include friendship, work or community groups to help yourself become more involved and better your sense of connectedness and wellbeing.
Exercise goals can be sport-specific, strength or endurance based. Other biological goals might target smoking cessation, decreasing the consumption of alcohol or uber eats, or planning more movement into your life. Psychological goals might mean starting that meditation practice, booking that appointment with the psychologist or getting more hours of sleep in a night in order to decrease your anxiety and depression risk factors.
While this is a useful tool, it is also important to strategise for when we fail at our goals. Improvement is not often linear, and allowing our specific goals to use words like growth, improve and development allow is to be more consistent and moderate in our approach. Avoiding the all-or-nothing approach and allowing for flexibility can help achieve longer lasting lifestyle change.
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This post was written by Dr Jess Davies.
You can find out more about Jess here or book an appointment with her here.
Alternatively, you can call the clinic on 9908 2844.