Setting Goals

Successful people, families community and business write goals to meet specific objectives. There are different tools one can use to set goals, and the one we will present here is called, “SMART.” Lets find out what the letters of this useful acronym for goal setting stand for.

Specific-Focused, clearly stated with enough details for understanding

Measurable-Quantified with specific results

Attainable-Achievable/Actionable-Achievement based on your sills, resources, ability

Relevant–Realistic/Results-Focused on application toward achievement

Time Based-Associated to the timeline you set (ie one month, two months, six months, a year etc)

These are goals that you should have reviewed and considered ramifications. As expected, you wrote your goals within the rest of the guidelines that we reviewed in the previous discussion about exercise like walking and balance exercises. The belief is that you will utilize your SMART goals as guideposts as you continue to exercise for health and evaluate your progress towards meeting them, resetting them and continuing to sustain a healthy lifestyle. Writing down your exercise goals is an important step toward achieving them. The well-defined goal formalizes the details, such as: What is to be accomplished? Who will be involved? When will the learning activity be completed? Use of the SMART goal format is likely a structure that you have used previously.

This is a useful tool to assist you when considering your goals for fall prevention. Now that you have read this book, and learned about the elements of fall prevention, what are your goals in the future? Can you use the SMART acronym to set a goal around increasing the duration of your walking, or how often you perform your balance exercises?

Wrap Up and Focus on Healthy Aging

• Health should be the easy and enjoyable choice for all persons. Exercise does not need to be complicated or expensive; it just needs to focus on moving and staying active!  Aging is not synonymous with illness or disability. The goal needs to focus on what is important to you, which is to be active and engaged at home, with appropriate family and caregiver resources to support independence and honor the individual as you age.

Being healthy should be part of your overall lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle can help prevent chronic diseases and long-term illnesses. Feeling good about yourself and taking care of your health are important for your self-esteem and self-image. Maintain a healthy lifestyle by doing what is right for your body.

Evaluating

As you continue to exercise and practice being aware of risks you may want to repeat the evaluation tools from the overview session. The STEADI, Fear of Falling and TUG are also contained within Appendix A resources for your convenience.