In my last blog post, Empowering Your Quit: Building Self-Efficacy for Tobacco Cessation, I wrote about self-efficacy, which is having confidence in being able to accomplish a task, such as quitting tobacco. Part of having higher self-efficacy is meeting goals that you have set for yourself. When you meet your goals, your self-efficacy may go up, which can lead to making more ambitious goals.
However, the opposite can also happen when your self-efficacy may go down in failing to meet your goal. In my previous blog, I stated, “If a person has high self-efficacy, they tend to have a deep commitment to their goals, view challenges as something to be mastered, and recover more quickly from setbacks. If a person has a weaker self-efficacy, they tend to avoid the task, believe it is beyond their capability, or focus more on personal failings and negative outcomes.”
In the article, Goal Setting for Behavior Change in Primary Care: An Exploration and Status Report, Bodenheimer states that when people create their own goals and can achieve them, their energy, performance, self-efficacy, and skill-building are all improved.
What stood out to me the most in this article was that “A person needs to make their own goals.” When someone else sets a goal for you, talks you into setting a goal that is not achievable, or you have no idea how to accomplish that goal, the chances of being successful could be compromised.
Also, if you feel that you are being robbed of something (i.e., the goal-setting process is not collaborative), it can affect your attitude and motivation toward working on that goal.
So, let’s talk briefly about goal setting. When setting a goal, a helpful mnemonic to remember is SMART, which stands for:
- S-Specific (or Significant)
- M-Measurable (or Meaningful)
- A-Attainable (or Action-Oriented)
- R-Relevant (or Rewarding)
- T-Time-Bound (or Trackable)
Here are specific points to remember that can help with being more successful in achieving that goal:
- Bodenheimer also reported that people who made long-term, or general goals, did not do as well as those who had more short-term goals with shorter steps towards a long-term goal. In my previous blog, I wrote about setting goals as one way to achieve self-efficacy, specifically setting short-term goals with specific planning, such as “I will use nicotine gum every time I get a craving,” or “I will take a 10-minute walk when I have a craving.” These goals are both short-term and very practical.
- Make sure you have very specific ways of attaining those goals, such as “I will keep nicotine gum in my car, on my nightstand, and in my purse,” so that you know exactly how you will be able to meet your goal.
- Finally, make sure that the goals you set are within your control. If you say, “I will not spend time around other smokers,” and you live with smokers, this is not within your control. You might say instead, “When I am around other smokers, I will use nicotine gum,” or, “I will leave the room,” etc. Again, use whatever works for you and is in your control.
What are some specific, measurable, and attainable short-term actionable steps you have made or can make, to help you achieve your goal of quitting tobacco?
