Doing More: Pursue Your Goals

You Can Still Pursue Your Goals, Despite Your Pain

One of the most difficult consequences of chronic pain is interference with pursuit of meaningful goals. People with pain often say that their pain takes up so much of their energy and emotion that that there is little left to give to goal pursuit. You may be out of practice with respect to setting and pursuing your goals.

However, you can have a pain and still have rich life.

Click here to review examples of short- and long-term goals mentioned by other people with chronic pain. (It's a long list. Don't feel you have to read all of the examples.)

This exercise is designed to help you get goals back in your life again. You will identify a goal and develop a plan to work towards it. After you reach your first goal or when you are ready to work on more than one goal, you can come back and repeat this activity to create a plan for a second goal.

Plan to Achieve Your Goal

Goal planning has several important features:

1. Goal setting and selection
2. identification of possible paths to achieve your goal
3. Identification of steps to take along each path
4. Scheduling each step on your calendar
5. If appropriate, use of the pacing tool to help you complete each step
6. Repeating the process of generating and scheduling steps as you make progress along each path
7. As. you attain your goals, repeat the process of setting goals, identifying paths and steps

Goal setting is a key ingredient in behavior change. It is very likely you already have a goal in mind that involves some health, activity, lifestyle, social, or other change.

This activity will help you to refine your goal in ways that will enhance your ability to effectively pursue your goal on a day-to-day basis and sustain it over time

1. What is a SMART Goal?

A SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Let's talk a bit about each of these elements. You will create your own SMART goal plan.

Specific - Specific goals are more likely to be attained and maintained. Ask yourself:

Who: Who is involved in this goal?
What: What do I hope to accomplish?
Where: Where does work on this goal take place?
When: When do I want to achieve this goal?
Why: Why is this important to me?

Here are a few examples of a Specific goal:

I want to eliminate red meat from my diet to help with my (other) goal to lose 50 pounds to reduce strain on my joints and spine.
I want to cook healthy, plant-based meals every weeknight with my spouse to improve our health and do a fun activity together.
I want to get together with a friend once a week on either Tuesday or Thursday.
I want to start walking 5 times a week. I will use the Pacing Tool to create my weekly distance.
I want to start playing the piano again. I will practice Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday in the evening for 15 minutes.

Type your Specific goal below:

2. Measurable - To succeed with any goal, you need a way to measure your progress. Think about how much, how many, how often. What standard will you use to measure your success? Ask yourself:

What will be measured? (e.g., "number of meals without meat", "servings of vegetables per day", "number of new vegetarian recipes tried each week")
How often will you pursue the goal? (e.g., "every day", "weekdays only", "lunch")
What is your standard for success? (e.g., "1 meatless meal a day", "vegetables at every meal", "vegan after 4PM")?

Type how you will Measure your progress below:

3. Attainable - It is critically important for you to recognize what is a realistic and attainable goal for you at the present time. Ask yourself:

What resources do I currently have for this goal?
What resources do I still need for this goal?
How will I obtain resources that I need?

Provide details below for how you will make this goal attainable:

4. Relevant - How does this goal relate to your current values, goals, and needs? Ask yourself:

What does this goal mean to me?
How does this goal fit with my values?
How does this goal support other goals?
Is this "my goal" or one that feels "imposed" on me by someone else? If it feels imposed, should I keep it is as, change it to feel more like my own, or let it go?

Describe below how this goal is relevant to your current values, goals, and needs:

5.
Time-Bound - What is the time-frame surrounding this goal. Ask yourself:

	What days will you work on this?
	When do you hope to attain this goal?