Ten Keys to Successful Coping 

6: Achieve Your Goals

By Bruce Campbell

We all have things we would like to do but have trouble doing. Target setting, the technique you’ll learn in this article, will help you translate your good intentions into action. Using this three-step procedure, you can move toward your goals by taking a series of small, realistic steps. Target setting can be a key tool in your self-management program because it enables you to do the things you know will help but which you may have difficulty accomplishing.

Target setting involves three steps: making a realistic short-term plan, carrying it out, and evaluating the results.

Your plan consists of specific actions that you can realistically expect to accomplish in the next week. Being specific in stating the plan is the key. The target you set for yourself should be concrete and measurable. Rather than something like “I want to get more rest,” you should state specific actions that are under your control. For example, you might plan to rest 15 minutes in the late morning four days in the next week. The plan you create should answer the following questions:

What specifically will you do? For example, will you rest, phone a friend or take a series of walks?

How much? If your target is to rest, will you rest for 15 minutes, an hour or some other length of time?

When? Will you rest in the morning, afternoon, evening or some combination?

How often? How many days a week will you do your target? You may want to do something daily, but it’s good to allow yourself some “breathing room” by aiming to do something several times a week rather than every day.

Once you have stated your plan, you need to determine whether it is realistic. To judge whether a target is doable, ask yourself “how confident am I that I can complete this target as stated?” Answer by giving a number between 0 and 10, where 0 means “not confident at all” and 10 means “totally confident.” If the answer is 8 or higher, you have a good chance to succeed. If your confidence level is lower, try stating your goal in less ambitious terms. For example, you might reduce the number of times per week. It usually works better to set a goal of doing something four or five times a week rather than every day. Another way to modify your plan is to reduce the length of time you do something, say from half an hour to 15 minutes.

An alternative response if your confidence is low is to ask what might stop you from achieving your goal. For example, if you want to exercise outside, bad weather might make that difficult. If you can identify potential problems, you may be able to come up with solutions. Alternative ways to exercise in bad weather might be to walk in a mall or use an exercise video at home. Once you have considered alternatives, you can ask yourself if your confidence level has changed.

After you have formulated your plan, write it down. In our groups, we use a target form that is divided into three sections. Write your target and confidence level in the section labeled “My Target.” Putting your intention in writing helps strengthen your commitment. Other ways to make it more likely that you will follow through include telling other people about your plan and posting your target somewhere you will see it frequently, such as on the refrigerator.

As the week unfolds, keep track of how you are doing by filling out the second section, “Results.” Use this space to write down what you’ve done and any problems that have arisen. Putting your experience in writing is a good way to hold yourself accountable and thus increase your chances for success.

At the end of a week, evaluate your results by asking how successful you were in meeting your target. The two most common problems people experience in target setting are not being specific and being too ambitious. The solution to the first is to ask whether your target answers the four questions of what, how much, when and how often. The solution to the second is to ask whether your confidence level is at least 8 on a scale of 0 to 10.

Even if your target is well stated and seems realistic, you may still experience problems. Perhaps the unpredictability of your illness will prevent you from completing the target as planned. Or you may decide that your target is not realistic at this time. But whatever the results, you can learn from your efforts. To help you gain something positive regardless of the outcome, fill out the “Lessons” section of the form. Sometimes the knowledge you gain from apparent failures can be just as useful or even more useful than an apparent success. Failing to reach your goal may lead you to new insights about yourself.

Sample Targets

The targeting technique is remarkably flexible. You can make a target in practically any area of your life. Here are some samples from people in our groups

An Example of Target Setting

To give you an idea of how targets can work, here’s an example from a student in one of our groups. Mary found the idea of daily, scheduled rest periods  appealing as one way to reduce her symptoms and bring more stability to her life. So she set a target of resting 15 minutes every day in the afternoon.

Her target answered the four questions involved in making a plan. Mary said what she would do (rest), how much (15 minutes), when (mid-afternoon), and how often (four times). She was uncertain about whether she could succeed, remembering that she has found it difficult to meet goals since she became ill. She rated her confidence level at 6. Since her confidence level was below 8, she decided to aim to rest four days during the week, rather than every day. With that change, she rated her confidence at 8.

Mary began the week well. She rested for 15 minutes on Monday. She was surprised at how easy it was to do, and she got up feeling more energetic, which she noted on her log. On Tuesday she lay down as scheduled but got up after a few minutes when the phone rang. It was a friend and they talked for half an hour. When they were done, she gave up on the idea of rest for that day. On Wednesday she unplugged the phone before lying down. A call came in during her rest, but the answering machine took it. Mary felt a little guilty not answering the call, but was refreshed by the rest.

On Thursday Mary did some errands in the mid-afternoon and didn't attempt a nap. On Friday, she rested but got up feeling worse than when she lay down. She noted that she was anxious that day and spent her rest time worrying. As a result, her time lying down wasn't very restful. She thought she might do better in the future if she practiced out relaxation techniques during her rest.

Mary was successful with her target in two different ways. First, she nearly fulfilled her plan by resting for 15 minutes on three days with some rest on a fourth. The experience was enough to show her the value of resting. Second, she generated an idea about further experiments she might try. Her rests helped her recognize that she was worrying a lot and gave her the motivation to try relaxation procedures during her rests to help quiet her mind as well as her body.