Why you should maintain at least a weekly rhythm when working on your goals

When thinking about your goals, you should clearly differentiate between an intention and a goal. What you’re thinking about might only be an intention because you are still considering it. In contrast, you are committed to a goal. You have made a firm decision. It’s not about the IF, but only about the HOW you get started.

Scientific research and practical experience both shown that you are most likely to be successful when you break down your goals into small steps that you can integrate into your daily or weekly routine. Consider a weekly repetition cycle as a minimum to keep your focus high.

Break down your goals into small steps that you can integrate into your daily or weekly routine.

This line of thought guided us when designing Goalify. When creating a goal, you can choose between a number of timeframes for your repeating activity:

• Daily
• Certain days (i.e. Monday, Wednesday and Friday)
• Weekly

The activity needs to be completed at least once within the chosen period. How often you want to work on your goal depends on your expectations; of course, this can vary from goal to goal. You will be able to experience the positive effects when you quickly get started on consistently engaging with your goal. It might feel a bit strange and new at the beginning, but soon you will have created a habit and it will feel more natural and normal for you.

Below you’ll find a few examples of what kind of goals you can formulate with Goalify:

Drink more Water

I will work on my goal weekly by drinking at least 2 liters.

• Each day is a new challenge. When you realize that you’re not making good progress or you get a friendly reminder from Goalify that you are behind your normal schedule for the day, don’t wait – go and get that glass of water now.

Learn a new language

I will work on my goal Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday by learning at least 5 vocabularies.

• Goalify will only remind you on the days you choose. If for any reason you realize that you have taken on too much, you can always adjust your goal value. Make it four, three, two or one new word. Even small steps will move you forward.

Smoke less

I will work on my goal Saturday by smoking at the most 2 cigarettes.

• Each Saturday you record every cigarette you smoke. You reached your goal as long as you stick to one or two cigarettes, or you just don’t smoke on that day. If it seems to be too difficult at the beginning, just adjust your goal. It’s about staying committed and keeping at it.

Exercise more

I work on my goal weekly by running at least 10 miles.

• This means that you commit to running at least 10 miles over the course of a week (from Monday to Sunday). What day you actually choose to go running can vary from week to week. You reach your goal by logging 10 miles (or more!) by Sunday night.

Goalify helps you to be more consistent in engaging with your goals, helping you to be more dependable with whatever you planned to do. When you record your progress, you immediately get some encouraging feedback from one of our virtual coaches. If you’re falling behind (we know, it happens) you get the boost you need – well-timed reminders help you to always reach your goals.

Keep at it!
Goalify-Team

Find out about recording your progress with Goalify in this blog entry: How to record your progress with Goalify