Goal setting for depression can be a great healing tool. When depressed as we all know it is very very hard to find the energy, will or wanting to do any task whatsoever. Simply getting up and taking a shower can seem like climbing the largest mountain and a massive effort for those with severe depression.
In this post we discuss why goal setting, with a little bit of a push from ourselves, can be so important and what to consider when setting your own targets.
So Why Should I Set Goals If I Am Depressed?
Goal setting can help you push yourself to do things you don’t feel like doing if you are depressed and finding it hard. By taking action to do certain things, even if only small, such as starting to wake up earlier or take daily showers and go for a walk can begin to alter your mindset.
How The Founder Set Goals To Overcome Depression
The goals you set can be a combination of the realistic and the incredible.
When the founder of Seek A THerapy fell ill one of his goals was to learn Spanish in order to expand his horizons. Learning Spanish would enhance work opportunity around the globe. Alongside this, he also entered the John Moores Painting Prize at the Liverpool Walker Art Gallery. This gave him a goal of finishing a painting before the deadline whilst also expressing his feelings at that stage of his life.
He also set goals of getting healthier physically. Even whilst suffering with severe social anxiety at the time, not wanting to go out, he used Wii Fit & took his dog for a walk. This led to him losing 20 pounds in 4 months!
He created a goal of going for longer and longer walks with his family dog. Eventually, he ended up travelling to London , alone , for the first time, and then met a girl there who was Colombian. This then led to him travelling with her to Colombia to see her an her family!
All this whilst still living with quite severe social anxiety and depression. This is the power of the goal, it can help us to push ourselves forward.
So How Do I Create Some Goal Setting Objectives For Depression
Setting goals that matter will help motivate you to undertake them. Here are 10 goal ideas to get you started.
1. Look for competitions online to use a hobby for a productive purpose.
2. What is causing you anguish or sadness. Are you socially anxious? Can you set small goals to put yourself into situations that challenge your own thinking until you can do bigger and bigger challenges and goals? Once complete you can feel proud you confronted your fears.
3. Improve your fitness. Improving your physical fitness will have a knock on effect to your mind. Mind body and soul really do affect each other.
4. Upskill. Can you improve a skill? Is there something you have always wanted to learn? There are plenty of online courses now. So if you suffer with anxiety it can allow you improve your ability and see yourself in a different light.
5. Believe in your dream. We all have a dream, whether to be financially comfortable, in a happy relationship, to travel more or to find our dream occupation. By setting your dream and believing in it it can drive you to make it happen. Even if it seems like you will never reach it, it is something that will continue to help you strive towards.
6. Don’t forget about the little goals. Little goals lead to bigger goals so things like getting out of bed early. Going on regular walks, ensuring you look after your hygiene daily, all these goals will help you build back a routine. Routine can be very important for good mental health and wellbeing.
Start Your Own Goal Setting List
Shoot for the moon and even if you miss you will land amongst the stars.
Now you have some basic ideas grab a pen and paper…
GO ON, DO IT RIGHT NOW!
Next, write down the numbers 1 to 10 and put down 10 ideas and goals that you would like to achieve. 1 can be your biggest dream, your most outlandish idea of the perfect life.
What would be your perfect situation in life? Do you want a great relationship? Is it you want to travel more? Do you want more time to start doing more of your hobby?
As you go down the list, don’t forget to add goals such as eating healthier, getting out of bed at a certain time each day, exercising a certain amount of time each day, Looking after you hygiene. These things are the fundamentals of looking after yourself and your wellbeing.
Below is an example list
- Travel to more countries in the next 3 years
- To learn Spanish fluently
- Learn how to create websites
- Meditate more and still my mind
- To paint more often and enter competitions
- Find a job that can help me find financial stability
- Use my story as a tool to help others
- Ensure I get out of bed at 9am every day no matter how I feel.
- Exercise exercise exercise 30 mins every other day and then increase 2 weeks later to an hour.
- To ensure I eat healthy food.
Once you have wrote your list pin it next to your bed. This will allow you to see your goals every single day. We also recommend finding pictures that inspire you towards your goals. Putting this next to your goals list can aid in visualising the life you want than simply reading a list.
Goal Setting For Depression. You Can Do It!
I hope you find this brief article about goal setting useful. What goals do you set and has it helped with your depression?
How do you push yourself to make sure you try to reach each goal through your depression? Please comment in the box below
[…] so by sleeping it gives you energy to take action, write down your goals when you wake up (see blog post here about the importance of goal setting)and seek ways of making your goals a […]