For some, goals are guides. Others, however, take goals as their way to monitor progress.
In the case of mental health recovery, setting life goals has become a crucial task. This is because, while it’s effective, it’s quite challenging and difficult.
Setting Life Goals
It may be difficult at first, but, with the right ways and mindset, you will be able to set your ultimate life goals. Here are some tips on how to do it:
- Write a ‘To-Do’ List
Writing a ‘to-do’ list is one of the most effective ways to set your goals. In fact, the chances of achieving each of your goals are very high given that you have a guide to follow. In a way, this makes it much easier on your end to monitor your progress and your activities.
It need not be grand or huge. Even the simplest of all tasks can be written down in your to-do list, as long as they will help you achieve your goal. So, if you are having a hard time setting and following your big and end goals, start with a simple to-do list on a daily basis.
You can write your to-do list in a notebook or a journal. You can even jot it down or pin it on your gadgets – there are several apps now that can help you with this activity.
- Focus on Short-Term Goals on Tough Days
Everyone experiences tough and bad days. And normally, these are the times when you would feel down, challenged, or even unproductive to set your goals and follow them. When this happens, the best way to resolve such concerns is to focus first on short-term goals.
For instance, you want to set a goal for the week in terms of completing your chores. Say, by the end of the week, you must finish all chores so you can rest during the weekends. Keep in mind that being neat and organised at home is very beneficial to mental health. Now, if by the third day of the week, you already feel lost and disorganised, try to focus on much specific short-term goals like washing dishes straight after lunch or decluttering countertops after use.
As simple and as specific as these short-term goals for the day, you can definitely set and follow the more general goals on your list.
- Stay Positive
It is worth noting that setting goals is not very easy. While some may find it a usual thing to do on a daily basis, some others find it as tedious task. If you are inclining more on the latter, then you have to change that kind of mentality. Besides, this will not help you with your mental health if you always resort to thinking negatively.
Before setting life goals toward your mental health recovery, think positively. Think of things that will help you with your current concern. From there, you will surely know what goals you will want and need for the betterment of yourself as a whole.
Mental Health Recovery Goals
There are a lot of different goals that you can set for your mental health. The truth is – when setting life goals, goals are dependent on the person writing them. So, your goals may appear differently from others. Try to follow them regularly, if not, then try to tweak them a little depending on your situation.
Get to a Healthy Weight
Mental health has been found to have links to physical health. When one does not observe a healthy lifestyle, the risks of obtaining various mental conditions are high. Hence, it is a must that you get to a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle.
You can set this goal up on your end for faster mental health recovery. You may try being more mindful of the foods and meals that you consume. You may also list specific diet plans that you may follow to reach the ideal weight for you.
Developing Healthy Habits
Along with being mindful of your diet, you may want also to develop newer and healthier habits. If you are, for instance, drinking alcoholic drinks regularly or smoking on a daily basis, you may want to quit them today and develop new habits to replace them.
You may also try to develop healthy habits like reading more books or getting into exercise routines. It’s up to you what these habits will be. But, keep in mind that you must choose habits that will definitely help you for the better.
Get Involved in the Community
Another great goal that you may want to include in your list is getting more involved in the community. As it happens, engaging yourself more often in the outside world will allow you to improve your mental health. The more people you get to know and engage with, the more experience and knowledge you will obtain. As a result, your mind will be busier with things that will matter most to you.
In the process of setting life goals, it has been also found that socialising is one of the most effective ways to improve mental health. People who are suffering from anxiety and depression are normally recommended to spend time with others as this helps them to be more grounded.
Improve or Build a Relationship with a Friend or Family Member
In relation to getting involved and socialising, it’s also best if you establish this more effectively with your significant ones like friends and family members. Establishing close ties with your loved ones can do wonderful things for your mind and body.
You may want to include this as well in your list of goals for your mental health recovery as this has been found to be a very effective practice.
Final Thoughts
All in all, setting life goals is quite challenging, especially if you are trying to improve yourself in all aspects. Even so, these points and examples will help you get started. Hence, you may want to try them out at first and see where these things will lead you.
For further support & advice contact EAP Assist.