Goal Setting and Wellness Journal Assignments

Goal Setting and Wellness Journal Assignments

Before setting a goal you should:

• Monitor behavior and keep records of what you were doing and how you were feeling.
• Analyze data for patterns and connections between: time of day, location, situation, or actions of others around you.

Goals should be:

• Specific
  • The what, why, and how of your goal
  • Be specific instead of stating you will lose weight or be healthier, set a specific goal to lose 5 pounds or walk a 13 minute mile pace.
  • Goals have to be specific so you know what you are measuring. For instance, if you state that you plan to eat healthier, how would you be able to measure this?
• Measurable
  • You must be able to measure your success
  • If you can’t measure your goal you can’t manage your success
  • Instead of stating you plan to eat healthier, you would state that you plan to add a serving of vegetables to 2 meals/day
• Achievable
  • Don’t set goals that are too far out of reach
  • To state you will lose 15lbs in 1 week is a goal that will not be achievable. If you analyze your diet and find you are not consuming any vegetables/day, would you be able to state that you will consume 4 servings of vegetables/day and have the goal be achievable?  No, you cannot go from none to all overnight
• Realistic
  • Is the goal “doable” for you
  • Be sure to set the bar high enough to satisfy your achievement, realistic does not mean easy
• Time Specific
  • Be sure to set a specific timeframe for your goal
  • You need to put a starting date and an end point in order to stay on track

Long Term Goal is the overall big picture.  Your long-term goal is to live a healthy lifestyle.

Short Term Goals are the stepping-stones to obtaining your long-term goal.  After analyzing your behavior you see that in order to live a healthy lifestyle you need to start exercising, eating better, and avoid stress.

Mini Goals help you achieve your short-term goals when you may have developed too large of a goal.  You may have to break your short-term goals down even further in order to stay on track.

How do we accomplish our goals? (Review chapter 1)

• Obtain information
• Modify your environment
• Reward yourself
• Make a personal contract

GOAL SETTING CONTRACT ASSIGNMENT should consist of the following:

• Statement of 3 short-term goals, 1 goal must be related to exercise or physical activity, 1 goal should pertain to nutrition, and your last goal may be your choice. Be sure you are selecting 3 goals that are most meaningful to you.  You must also state why these goals are important to you.  Be sure to reflect on the why.   What will you accomplishing this goal mean to you, how will it affect your life?   For instance, because you were able to do something in high school, does being able to do this again as an adult really mean something to you?
• Start date and Date you expect to reach your goal. This isn’t in a week or two.  It takes at least 6 weeks to break or change a habit.
• Steps you will use to measure your progress
• Strategies for promoting change in order to achieve your goal. This should also include how you will deal with setbacks.  Set-backs will always occur so it is best to plan for how you will deal with these prior to starting your goal
• Rewards you will use (your ultimate reward should be how you look or feel in return, but this should not be used as a reward).  Will you reward yourself each week, every other week, or just when you accomplish the entire goal?  Rewards are used to keep you motivated, is there something you do not typically allow yourself to do, to have, or to feel?

Your assignment must be typed, double-spaced, and is due in class on Friday 2/5 or Tuesday 2/9.  You are responsible for keeping track of your progress for at least 1 goal.  Change is difficult so you may only be able to focus on 1 goal at a time for now.  Make sure you select the most important one to you.  We will be checking in periodically throughout the remainder of the semester to discuss your progress and what changes can be made in order for you to keep on track.

WELLNESS JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT

During the remainder of the semester you must record the following items for each class period.  If you are absent then you must record the day as being absent.  You will also be asked during the semester to spend 1 week recording your “exercise” or “physical activity” that occurs outside of class.

You must record the following items for each bout of exercise or physical activity you complete; 1) time of day, 2) type of exercise, 3) duration of exercise, 4) rate of perceived exertion on a scale from 1 – 10, and 5) comments (how you felt, was it difficult to complete the exercise…).  You must be sure during your 1 week recording period to include the days you do not exercise or are physically active by marking No Exercise/Physical Activity for that day.

I will provide you with a set of questions to answer prior to the end of the semester which will go along with your goal assignment part 2.

• 0– Nothing at all
• 1-2 Super easy, like a slow walk…you could do this all day
• 3-4 Moderate effort, you aren’t going easy anymore, but you can hold this for a long time
• 5-6 Hardholding this for an extended period is difficult
• 7-8 Very hard, this pace can only hold this for a couple of minutes
• 9-Very, very hard, you couldn’t go more than a minute if that before a break is needed
• 10–Exertion, can’t continue no matter how hard you tried