Achieving a health and wellness goal takes time and patience. Choosing one goal at a time and making the plan small and specific can help you stay on track. Along with setting a new wellness goal and creating a plan for success, think about what challenges or barriers we may face along the way. It’s important to acknowledge these challenges, so we know how to approach or avoid them in the future.
Here are some common barriers that many face when sticking with a health and wellness goal and how to overcome or avoid them:
- Having Unrealistic Expectations - Beat this barrier by setting small, short-term goals that align with your long-term goal. Remember to celebrate your small achievements along the way!
- Viewing Mistakes as Failure – Mistakes or slip-ups are going to happen. Learning from your mistakes or slip-ups is what is important! Revaluate your plan to get back on track after they happen so you can still make progress towards your goals.
- Lack of Time Management – Make your goal a priority and build it into your daily or weekly schedule to make sure it happens. If you don’t have enough time in the day to focus on your goal, try tracking your activities for a week. You may find that you have more time than you think! Watching TV, scrolling your phone, or other “time-wasters” could be redelegated time to focus on your overall wellness goal.
- You Don’t have a Plan – Think about and plan for the potential challenges you may face and create a plan to overcome them. For example, one challenge could be that you work long hours but still want to make dinners at home. Try writing out your weekly meal plan on a calendar and plan for the busy nights by having leftovers ready to reheat. Have some quick, easy recipes and ingredients stocked, so a healthy choice is an easy choice.
Preparing for any challenges or barriers that could come your way will help you build confidence and stay motivated to achieve your goals.
By Coach Sarah