SMART GOALS REVISITED
I was first introduced to the SMART GOAL concept by my good mate Danny when he was studying his MBA. In the corporate world they are constantly adopting many great strategies to drive outcomes and I only wish I had of been introduced to this stuff earlier on in my osteopathy career or when I was studying as a student. Nowadays this is commonly taught within the Osteopathy education (well it is at VU where I work anyways) and it allows both the student to adopt this for their own personal benefit as well as implementing it into the practice with their clients within the student osteopathy clinic. Many of our clients will often present to us with one desire, to get out of pain. Typically though underlying this is a many other wants for change when it comes to health and wellbeing. This is where we as osteopaths can be a great help (or coach as I like to refer to it as) with our clients as we can provide them with the tools and support them on their journey towards and health and wellbeing. So back to SMART GOALS, for those that don’t know what a SMART goal is, it is simply a specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound goal. Rather that say I want to be fit (who the hell knows what this means anyways), we can have our client focus on perhaps defining what fit might mean to them and then have them create a SMART goal to work towards. A nice simple example might be:
- Specific – Run 30 minutes
- Measurable – Mon, Thu, Sat each week
- Achievable – YES (currently running and there are minimal barriers to change)
- Realistic – YES
- Time bound – each week for the next 4 weeks and then review
Next time you are working on achieving your own goal or perhaps a goal for your client, have them put it through the SMART goal process and see how it goes.
This blog post was written by osteopath Heath Williams of Principle Four Osteopathy. Principle Four Osteopathy is one of Melbourne City CBD leading Osteopathy clinics. At the clinic we treat a wide range of clients, ranging from the office worker, exercise enthusiast to athlete. We have 3 experienced osteopaths working across both of the clinics. The Melbourne City CBD clinic is located at 29 Somerset Place (basement), close to the corner of Elizabeth St and Little Bourke in the Melbourne City CBD. Our premises adjoin the Jon Weller Personal Training Studio, a fully-equipped training space which allows clients to combine their osteopathy treatment with exercise tutorials or specific training programs and rehabilitation. The Docklands clinic is located at 717 Bourke St (Ground Floor), beneath the Channel 9 building near the walkway from Southern Cross Train Station to Etihad Stadium. Our premises adjoin Pilates on Bourke, a fully-equipped pilates and yoga training space which allows clients to combine their osteopathy treatment with exercise tutorials, pilates or specific training programs and rehabilitation. To speak to an Osteopath or book an appointment at Principle Four Osteopathy, please book online or call 03 9670 9290.