Ch 17: Goal Setting Flashcards
Right type of goals
Ones that provide direction and motivation
Individuals must set the right kind of goals that enhance motivation, build confidence, and inspire direct attention toward goal completion.
Low success rate in achieving goals
Goals not set realistically in terms of commitment, difficulty, or evaluation of progress
- Do not include specific strategies for achieving the goals
Clients need to understand:
The goal-setting process, the different types of goals, goal-setting principles, why goals work, and how to implement a goal-setting program to maximize goal effectiveness
Attaining a specific standard of proficiency on a task, usually within a specified time.
Objective Goals
General statements that are not easily measurable or objective.
Subjective Goals
Goals usually focused on the end result and are in relation to another person, usually in the form of a competition.
Outcome Goals
Goals in relation to one’s own level of performance or behavior.
Performance Goals
Goals focused on helping individuals to actually reach their performance goal.
Process Goals
Nutrition coaches should have their clients focus on what type of goals?
On how to lose weight (e.g., changing dietary habits) instead of how much weight to lose.
To help set performance and process goals, fitness professionals should ask what type of probing questions of clients to gain a better understating of their dietary habits?
Do you find yourself eating meals quickly and on the run? If so, how often?
Do you tend to overeat and feel full and sluggish? If so, how often?
How often do you find yourself eating in the car or in front of the television?
How many servings of vegetables do you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
How much water do you tend to drink per day?
Examples of process/performance goals could include the following:
Eat slower and more mindfully, focusing on the taste, smell, and texture of the food.
Eat until only 80% full and save any leftovers for another time.
Avoid eating in the car or in front of a television when possible.
Aim to eat three servings (about 2 cups) of vegetables per day.
Aim to drink eight glasses of water per day.
Goals that are objective and can be easily measured.
Goal Specificity
Goals that are either short- or long-term.
Goal Proximity
How hard (or easy) it is to reach a goal.
Goal Difficulty
The degree to which an individual is invested in achieving his or her goal.
Goal Commitment
Outcome, performance, and process goals.
Goal Type
Recording and evaluating one’s own daily behaviors, usually in the form of a journal or calendar.
Self-Monitoring
Setting as a strategy to change dietary behaviors was most effective when a ______________ goal-setting process was employed.
Four-step
Four step Goal Setting Process
- Recognizing a need for change
- Establishing goals
- Adopting a goal-directed activity and self-monitoring it
- Self-rewarding goal attainment
Individuals who more frequently set goals related to diet and nutrition
Used more appropriate behavioral strategies for weight management and diet and nutrition
Individuals trying to change their eating patterns (Most effective)
Setting specific short- and long-term goals, writing down their exact intake, and then self-monitoring is related to the most positive eating behaviors.
Goal Setting Mechanistic Explanation
- Directing attention and action
- Mobilizing effort
- Enhancing persistence
- Developing new learning strategies
Goal Setting Principles (SMARTS)
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Action-Oriented
R - Realistic
T - Timely
S - Self-Determined
Goal Setting Principles (Others)
Short- and long-term goals, written goals, goal commitment, identifying goal barriers, providing feedback, and individualizing goals.
Action Plans
Should focus on process goals; this helps guide individuals in doing what is necessary to achieve their goals.
Action plans also help overcome barriers that may get in the way of achieving a specific goal.
When setting realistic goals for a client
Individual differences and environmental factors need to be considered
Realistic, but challenging
Timely Goals
All goals should have a Specific Timeframe
Lack of a specific timeframe can undermine a person’s motivation
An important way to include the timeframe is to set short-term goals (e.g., daily or weekly) and long-term goals (e.g., monthly or yearly).
Long-term goals
- Provide direction and set the stage for what a client is eventually trying to achieve.
- They keep the focus on where the client eventually wants to go.
Short-term Goals
- Important because they help individuals focus on small improvements and provide continuous feedback concerning progress toward the long-term goal
- The feedback from short-term goals can also serve a motivational function and allow adjustment of goals either upward or downward, depending on the situation
Interaction of Short-term and Long-term goals
Staircase Approach
Behavior that is directed by personal (internal) satisfaction, such as personal enjoyment, as well as striving for self-determination and competence.
Intrinsic Motivation
Hot–cold empathy gap
- The hot–cold empathy gap emphasizes the notion that people fail to realize how much their current emotional experiences bias perception
- In essence, his current feelings of depression (hot) flavor his perceptions of the difficulty of reaching goals (cold).
Not reaching goals; First step
The first approach would be to ask the client what is getting in the way of achieving their goal and reevaluate whether the goal was ever feasible
Not reaching goals; What should client do?
Clients should rate their level of performance, identify barriers, and report how confident they are on reaching their initial goal. If they report poor performance, identify barriers, and/or report low confidence, then the goal needs to be reevaluated and revised.
Goal Feedback
Combining goals with feedback appears to be extremely important in the achievement of goals.
- The combination of goal setting and feedback produced significantly higher performance than setting goals alone
- needs to be viewed positively by clients for it to be helpful in performance or behavioral change
Probably the most important principle when implementing a goal-setting program applied to diet and nutrition
Make sure that Nutrition Coaches customize goals to the individual
More specifically, nutritional coaching generally involves a careful assessment of?
Diet, identification of problem foods, discussion of environmental cues influencing the consumption of problem food, and the creation of an action plan
To help individualize goals for clients, ask open-ended questions to more clearly understand their intrinsic motivation and barriers to new lifestyle habits. Some examples include the following:
What are your biggest concerns about your health and eating habits?
What work are you prepared to do to reach your goal?
How motivated are you to reach your goal?
What have you tried in the past to reach your weight-loss goal?
Did it succeed? Why or why not?
What has prevented you from reaching your goals in the past?
Have you already started making changes to your dietary habits?
It is recommended that to increase commitment:
individuals post their goals in a public place to increase motivation and possibly peer pressure to achieve their goals
Nutrition coaches should not implement these principles without considering each individual client’s:
Needs, goals, personality, motivation, and situation.
A technique to help people make decisions about starting a specific program or not.
Decision Balance Sheet
Decision Balance Sheet
Gains to Self vs. Losses to Self
Gains to Important Others vs. Losses to Important Others
Approval of Others vs. Disapproval of Others
First Meeting with client
- Take a detailed history of Amy’s eating, exercise patterns, and background along with what she wanted to achieve by working with a fitness professional.
- provide Client with some written information on different goal types and different goal-setting principles.
After reviewing all this information, develop some goals and ask client to develop one goal for each of the three areas for improvement.
Second Meeting with client
Compare their goals and negotiated to determine which goals were most important
Relapse prevention action plan program
Early in the program
- Fitness professional could ask the client to discuss and evaluate potential barriers with potential solutions
“I want to reduce my calorie intake from 3,000 to 2,000 calories per day,” is an example of which kind of goal?
Performance Goal
“I want to reduce my calorie intake from 3,000 to 2,000 calories per day,” is an example of which kind of goal?
Subjective Goal
What is a decision balance sheet?
A technique to help people make decisions about starting a specific program or not
What goals are focused on helping individuals to reach their performance goal?
Process Goals
What are goals in relation to one’s own level of performance or behavior?
Performance Goals
Why does the Nutrition Coach need information about goal setting if many individuals already set goals?
Individuals generally do not set goals that maximize positive outcomes.
