SMARTgoals

“Goal” is such a simple word, but it has a lot of meaning behind it. A goal is your objective and your motivation to do something.  Goals can range from getting up before 10 on a weekend to running a marathon. Goals are dreams that you want and will put effort into achieving. The best way to do this is to set SMART goals. To set a SMART goal, ask yourself:

·      Specific -- What do you want to get out of achieving your goal?

·       Measurable – How you know when you are making progress towards your goal?

·      Attainable -- Can you meet your goal?

·      Realistic -- Is your goal something you are both willing and able to work for?

·      Timely-- Set you time frame, when do you want your goal to be completed?

A SMART goal has to have all of these aspects; this will help you achieve them. When you think through a dream enough to make it a SMART goal, you are setting out a plan to achieve your overall goal.  

For the past year (plus some), I have struggled with depression and anxiety about school.  I have chronic headaches that only go away with stress-reducing sleep.  My goal is to enter my next phase of school as healthy as I can be – both mentally and physically.  I have found that when I make working out a priority, it helps me relief stress in all areas of my life. It also makes me want to eat healthier and get more sleep – the two things my doctor has encouraged.  After experiencing a bout of headaches, I have learned to reset my behavior and force my life back in balance.  Consequently life gets better.  When I let things get out of balance, the headaches return. I will measure my progress towards this goal by the amount of time between headache bouts.  This goal is attainable because the behaviors necessary to achieve it are things I should be doing anyway and are not difficult.  The goal is realistic because it is measurement is based on improvement. I am putting a hopeful and practical timeframe on accomplishing my goal of before I leave for college in the fall.  

Although I would want to do this so I can live a happy and healthy life. I also need to do this because of what my career goal is.  The main goal of the field of recreation is for the community/participants to have fun and to be healthy. To succeed in this field, I will need to be healthy too.