Goals May Be SMART, but are they Healthy?

Most everyone has learned the importance of writing SMART goals, and many of us have realized the benefits of writing goals. As you may recall, SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Sensitive.

But, have you considered whether your goals are healthy?

Whenever I go to my health practitioner, she tells me, "You have a busy mind"! So, when I stumbled across the book, Women Who Think Too Much, by Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, I decided it must be the book for me.

It seems that we, particularly women, are experiencing the phenomenon of overthinking these days. A study has shown this to be the case in the current population under the age of 65. Those over 65 don't report ever having problems with too much overthinking (i.e., finding they are thinking how sad or anxious or angry they feel for long periods of time). This phenomenon is paralleled with overall increases in depression, anxiety, and anger.

To overcome the phenomenon of overthinking requires:

• Clearly knowing our values (we, fortunately, have a lot of choices these days, but this makes our risk and temptations much greater).

• Accepting what we have and what we are doing is enough for the moment (media and society foster constant comparisons of what we have, with what we could have or be).

• Overcoming desires for a quick fix when we feel down (consider our societal alcohol and prescription drug problems).

• Being less sensitive to our brief mood changes and those of others (we have fortunately learned to pay attention to feelings, but we seem to have become too hyper-vigilant in trying to address them).

We can overcome overthinking by acknowledging it is not our friend, learning enjoyable ways to create a distraction from this type of thinking, even yelling, "Stop" to our mind, and recognizing we're only hurting ourselves. We can set a time to think more about the issue(s) at a later date, turn the issues over to a higher source or a meditative state, commit the issue(s) to writing, and seek friends that handle stress well.

Importantly, we must write goals that are not only SMART, but healthy. Generally, healthy goals come from us, not our friends, family, or culturally influenced, "you shoulds". They should be realistic and feasible (perhaps a size 6 dress, 7-figure income, or another marathon on bad knees may never happen). We must also address conflicting goals (full-time mom and full-time executive simply don't work at the same time). Finally, goals should address achieving success, rather than avoiding failure (even if we don't make the goal and suffer consequences, at least we tried!).

It's a good time of year to write our SMART, but healthy goals!