Attractive black man running in urban background. Male doing workout outdoors. Guy listening to music with white headphones

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Do you hope to change something about yourself someday? Maybe you have a desire to workout more, or eat a cleaner diet, or sleep better? While sustainable behavior change takes time and consistency, it is most certainly possible! As a Clinical Health Coach in training, behavior change is constantly on my mind. I love goal-setting both for myself and helping my clients do the same. So let’s do some health coaching together!

First, let’s narrow our options for this episode and just focus on Physical Activity. In 3 months from today, where would you like to see yourself in terms of physical activity? Perhaps you are walking occasionally but you want to make it a daily habit, or you would like to go workout at the gym 4 days a week. This is going to be your Long-term goal; the idea is to make this a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound), so be sure to address what you want to change, when you want this change to happen, and how often. An example might be: “In 3 months, I will be walking outside for 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesdays, and Friday mornings at 8:30am.”

Do you have yours in mind? Write it out!

  • 3-Month Goal:_____________________________________________

Now that you know what you want to work towards, what are one or two small steps you can take this week to get you closer to that long-term goal? Are you doing this behavior currently? How often? What helps or deters you from doing this behavior? Say for example, your 3-month goal was the one from above but you are not currently walking at all, nor do you have walking shoes. Perhaps, two actionable steps you could take this week might be:

  1. “This Sunday morning when I am out grocery shopping, I will purchase a pair of walking shoes at the Mall”
  2. “On Monday and Tuesday mornings this week, I will walk once around my block at 8:30am”

What are your 1-3 weekly (SMART) goals?

  1. Weekly Goal:_____________________________
  2. Weekly Goal:_____________________________

Now, on a scale of 1-10, what is your confidence that you will be able to complete these goals? If the number is pretty high, it seems like these goals are realistic! If you rated yourself at a 6 or lower, what do you think is making you feel unsure? Would you feel more confident if you tweaked something about your goal to make it feel more manageable? Is there someone you can share this plan with who will help to keep you accountable?

While this is just the bare bones of health coaching, it’s a great start to lasting behavior change. If one-on-one health coaching is something that you think you would benefit from, check out the health coaching clinic at UD here. I believe in your success with your goals this week- you got this!

Written by GUADS staff member Kate