“Goal clout” is an important concept to help explain why it’s been so hard for us busy women to keep up our desired behavioral goals (move more, eat better, meditate, etc.) and how we can learn to maintain them for life. Want this new trump card?
I created the goal clout concept to help women understand an essential aspect of sustaining self-care behaviors.
We rush around nonstop, scrambling to accomplish things – aiming to get the most urgent things done every day. The reality of our hectic and over committed life is that it is VERY DIFFICULT to take care of ourselves well…right?
In fact, even self-care and exercise professionals, like me, are constantly challenged to keep up our own self-care behaviors. Why should anyone be immune to this challenge? The pressured pace of our society influences us all.
Virtually everyone has tried to make lifestyle changes to take better care of ourselves many, man, many times. Yet, when life takes an unexpected turn or our kids get sick most of us don’t keep these self-care behaviors up.
So, what differentiates women who successfully stay active, eat well, and/or meditate regularly and those who do not?
It’s goal clout.
Goal clout is about a behavioral goal being so crucial to our daily effectiveness and functioning that it consistently influences our daily priorities. Goal clout gives your self-care behavior influence over your daily priorities so your self-care is no longer trumped by less essential “to dos”.
If you know that eating well during the midday gives you more energy for the afternoon, that’s a pretty compelling reason to make sure you meet that goal regularly. Thus, eating well “so I have more energy all afternoon” gives eating well goal clout. Having goal clout means you decided to 5-10 minutes to make yourself a healthy lunch the night before work because eating well may enhance your next day more than finishing the laundry.
Goal clout is directly connected to our reason(s) for participating in a self-care behavior.
Here’s an example of why Sandy’s physical activity behavior has goal clout. Sandy moves regularly because her reason for doing it is that movement immediately reduces stress and improves her mood. These enhancements, in turn, make her more effective at work and she feels that she is more patient and loving to her family. This self-care activity has a domino effect on the rest of her lifel
So, when Sandy moves, she knows she is going to enjoy living her life more, in the moment. She also knows that on the days she lets other responsibilities trump her desired movement, she feels worse, has less energy, and doesn’t function as well in any of her roles and responsibilities.
Can you see why daily movement has goal clout for Sandy? It’s purpose is tied to living happier and more effectively!
Our self-care goals WILL ALWAYS compete with many other goals, priorities, and responsibilities. Everything thing we do on a daily basis is based on either a conscious or unconscious decision.
So, unless the purpose for our self-care behavior is to help us be more effective in our daily roles and responsibilities and leads to experiences that fuel energy, well-being and self-worth they can’t have goal clout. Without goal clout our motivation fades when life gets complicated.
When a behavioral goal has “clout” it feels deeply compelling to fit in and even trumps other important items on our “to do” lists. While a self-care behavior might replace something else “important” on a given day, the full return on the self-care behavior (happiness, energy, focus, patience, pride, self-worth) usually far outweighs the benefits from checking off one more item on our “to do” list.
Creating behavioral goals that have clout is a smarter strategy. But it’s not based on the luck of the draw. You have to decide you want it.
If you want to learn the steps to achieve goal clout for your self-care behaviors and a top ROI on your self-care time, stay tuned
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Hi Michelle,
I 100% agree with changing the reason we exercise to focus on the feeling that exercise brings. Less stress, improved etc. A problem I struggle with and I am sure that others also do is the constant messages from the ” experts.” If you go to the American College of Sports medicine. They pretty much tell you the minutes you ” need ” to workout weekly and what kinds of exercise “should” be performed. Since I have exercised pretty much all of my life, I struggle with the intensity of exercise. If I don’t follow what the experts tell us to do, then I feel that I am pretty much wasting my time. I know that this is all or nothing thinking.
I believe if you could perhaps explore more in your blog about how to give oneself permission to exercise the way that makes a person feel good. Instead of what the experts tell us. Also the struggle with body image and how exercising for how our bodies will look and weigh is detrimental to maintaining movement. I agree so much with what your message is. The problem for myself and others is how to get to that place emotionally. Thanks so much for sharing your work on your blog.
Take care,
Lita
Ops, I meant improved mood.
All movement counts Lita. Our job is stop doing things that decrease our mood, make us feel badly about ourselves or undermine us moving at all! When I coach women, helping them change their mindset around “how much” and “how intense” is worth doing is one of the hardest things to do. But like you, they talk about these issues, and over time, try it THEIR WAY. They see how much better they feel and it helps them let go of the constant tape of experts in their heads that have been getting in their way. Does that makes sense? But as we discussed in our last conversation, YOU are the only one who can make those changes in thinking and beliefs. Make sense?
Yes it makes sense, thank you. It is true, that only I can change my thinking and beliefs. It will be difficult, since changing behavior is a challenge. Thanks.
I would enjoy your thoughts on body image and how we women can develop and maintain a healthy body image in all stages of our life. Also sharing, that is if you have had issues with your own struggles with exercise and body image would be very helpful to others. I truly respect others who share their struggles, since being honest takes courage. That takes true strength.
Thank you so much Michelle, you have been very helpful to me. I really appreciate it!