In an ideal world, there would be no need to discuss goal adjustment. You would set your aim, map out an outcome goal and a set of process goals to achieve it, then once it’s achieved you’d set a new outcome goal which takes you closer to your aim, and then set process goals to suit, repeating until the aim is achieved.
Unfortunately, as we discussed in module 5, it can be wise to track and assess your progress to make sure it lines up with your goals and if not, make adjustments.
These adjustments may be made to your SMART outcome goal – perhaps you reduce the measurable metric to make your target feasible within your timeframe, or perhaps you increase the timeframe instead. If neither of these can be changed then it could be that you need to alter your process goals to speed things up. Maybe you need to do an extra 3000 steps per day, or reduce your calorie intake by another 10% because your weight loss has stalled for a few weeks at a time.
Whatever happens, always remember that while your aim is unchanging your goals are only tools, malleable in the search of the ultimate endpoint. Perhaps you are planning a holiday which will impact your ability to meet your goal, fine. All you need to do is adjust something.
If your goal was to lose 8kgs in 10 weeks and at week 4 you find yourself going away for 2 weeks unexpectedly, think around the problem and consider possible solutions.
You could: