50+ Lifestyles

Goal Setting for Older Individuals

By Logan Anderson, BA, CPT, CIFT
Owner of All Strong Fitness LLC

Through the years, it is likely that seniors have had numerous different goals in their daily lives. Whether this be goals related to finances, health, or even relationships, setting goals is something most individuals do to stay motivated and focused. Despite the benefits of setting goals for ourselves, older individuals may lack the knowledge, discipline, or general desire to set them. Goal setting, regardless of age, is an integral part of life that offers the individual a chance to focus their attention on a task, and accomplish something great.

Have you had a time in the last few weeks, years, or even decades where you feel like you wake up just to wake up? There is nothing that drives you through the day or keeps you mentally sharp? One of the wonderful parts of aging is the slow regression in formal responsibility. Individuals retire from their jobs, kids become old enough to sustain a life for themselves, and their retirement funds may have their finances set forever. Unfortunately with increased freedom, becomes less sense of a purpose. A simple tweak to your daily thinking, goal setting can refresh an older individuals outlook on life and give them a sense of purpose again.

Goal setting can come with a variety of objectives. Since staying healthy and young is a recurring theme in older individuals, we will steer our thinking around this subject.

When first setting a health goal, the individual must ask themselves what is important to them. For some, losing ten pounds might be an important goal, while for others being able to walk up a flight of stairs could be their end game.

Being honest with oneself about what they realistically can accomplish will set up the goal setting process for success. Although choosing a goal that isn’t realistic can lead to frustration, REMEMBER, you can and should tweak your goals frequently.

After you decide what the purpose of your goal is, being specific about what you are going to do to reach your goal is the next step. Most individuals think about their goal as the “end task.” They will simply say “I want to be able to get out of a chair.” This is an example of an outcome goal. Outcome goals are usually a goal that is months or even years away. Although outcome goals are important, setting a good process goal is perhaps the limiting factor in someone’s success. Process goals are goals that work on small actions, likely every day, that will lead to your desired outcome goal. For example: An outcome goal may be “I want to walk without a cane.” A process goal to help work on this outcome could be “I will walk without a cane for ten minutes everyday for the next month.” As we can see your process goal sets a specific task for you to work on to complete your outcome goal.

Naturally, there will be less for an older individual to do in the case of formal responsibilities. Although largely true, adding in some goals to spice up your life and keep you mentally focused can go a long way. In the next few days, think about some small changes you can do that will lead to a bigger goal.

For more information please contact Logan Anderson, owner of All Strong Fitness LLC. He can be reached at (563) 210-3701 or by email: allstrongfitnessllc@gmail.com