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Goals and Gameplans

This is the goal-setting page in the Try Dry app (or here on Google Play). Now I'm a bit of a crazy mixed up kid when it comes to goals!

I like goals I think I can achieve. I like goals I can see myself achieving in my head. But goals that are "too big" don't work for me. I like a time-frame that seems manageable, rather than one that makes me feel like I'm condemned to fail even before I started. 75Hard is for example a total no-go for me for this reason alone.

In the app you might sign up to complete DryJanuary or Sober Spring, or you can also choose a whole range of goals to start, and stop, at any time of the year you please.  You can set a goal that's Dry, Dry on a certain number of days, or reducing your consumption ie you can make it realistic and achievable, and it's totally personal, not dictated by someone else's idea of what a "proper" goal should look like, or what "success" looks like or what "failure" means.

So, in my own mind, there's two really good reasons why Dry January is Dry January : 

1. It's a month. A month is challenging without being overly intimidating. That's not to say you wouldn't have concerns; if you didn't then it probably couldn't really be called a challenge!

2. It's January. January is the month of all manner of resolutions, also known as goal-setting, so you have a whole load of people on your side doing DJ, or on a diet, or trying veganuary, or going to the gym, or training for the London Marathon.  Plus a month is believed to be a period sufficient to be able to make new habits start to stick. Now, the issue with New Year resolutions (and why a lot of them don't stick) is that they are rarely set with an achievable goal and a realistic target date in mind AND they have rarely have great preparation and planning (as per my reent blogs on change) in place.  

I completed DJ2019 successfully, and you can see from the app that I had a few drinks in February and a few more in March, and then I mostly stopped even writing it down, which knowing me means I had drinks but couldn't even manage to be accountable to myself. 

But being accountable is truly important.  To the app, or to a partner or friend, or coach.  If they're doing their job properly there's no judgement, so just be honest.  The app has a journalling feature, but your conversations with your partner or coach might in effect be those journalling episodes when you step back and reflect on what happened. If things went well you can take some time to congratulate yourself and note the succcess so it's reinforced in your brain. 

If things didn't go as you'd hoped, maybe you had a drink when you didn't mean to, or had more than you planned to, stay accountable to yourself and work out what happened and why.  This is probably the single most important thing you can do (which I'll freely admit I'm still not great at myself).  If you know what happened and why then you'll be able to make a plan for what happens next time that similar situation arises.

We've probably watched those documentaries where sprinters or American football players continually watch video of their opponents or competing teams. They're working out what happened, and why, and what to do differently next time so they train and prepare to get the outcome they want, so they achieve their goal. We may not be Olympic athletes, but we still have goals and we can still achieve them, with the right tools in the tool-box.

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