New Year, New You: Setting Goals to Thrive with Parkinson's

As the calendar flips to a new year, it’s time to focus on what’s possible! In this empowering episode of Live Parkinson's - Live an Exceptional Life, we dive deep into the transformative power of goal-setting to help you thrive despite the challenges of Parkinson's. Learn actionable strategies to take charge of your year and create a life filled with purpose, positivity, and progress.

🔑 Key Concepts Covered:

• The Power of Goals: Discover how goal-setting can enhance mental well-being, reduce stress, and improve daily life with Parkinson’s.
• SMART Goals Framework: Learn how to create goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
• Overcoming Obstacles: Find practical tips to navigate challenges like fatigue, fear of failure, and physical limitations.
• Staying Motivated: Explore strategies to maintain momentum and celebrate small victories along the way.
• Your Personalized Action Plan: Walk away with a step-by-step guide to set and achieve meaningful goals in the new year.

💡 Whether you’re looking to improve your physical health, reconnect with a passion, or build deeper relationships, this episode will leave you inspired and equipped to turn your vision into reality.

 Don’t let Parkinson’s define your year. Tune in to this episode and start thriving today! Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with others.

 #LiveWithParkinsons #ThriveWithParkinsons #GoalSetting #ParkinsonsJourney #NewYearNewYou #SMARTGoals #PositivityAndProgress #ExceptionalLife
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References:

• 19 Surprising New Year's Resolution Statistics (2024 Updated), insideoutmastery.com
• 13 Goal Setting Statistics: Research Studies Facts & Findings,

Chapters

• 0:02 Thriving With Parkinson's Through Goal Setting
• 11:21 Effective Goal Setting Strategies for Parkinson's
• 17:16 Setting SMART Goals for My Parkinson's

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello and welcome to Live Parkinson's live an exceptional life. I'm your host, chris Kastenbatter, and I've been living an exceptional life with Parkinson's for the past 14 years. The mission of this podcast is to help as many people as possible living with Parkinson's to lead a great quality of life. Today's episode is New Year, new you Setting Goals to Thrive with Parkinson's. As we step into a brand new year, let me ask you this what's one thing you've always wanted to achieve, but felt held back by Parkinson's? Today we're going to flip the script, but felt held back by Parkinson's. Today we're going to flip the script. This episode is all about setting powerful goals to help you thrive, whether it's building strength, building strong relationships or rediscovering a lost passion, or traveling. You're not just living with Parkinson's, you're thriving with it. So grab your notebook, your favorite beverage or just sit back and listen, and let's make this your year of possibility and progress. Okay, chris, this all sounds wonderful, but how is it going to help me thrive with Parkinson's in 2025 and beyond? Well, like they say, action speaks louder than words, and taking action is ultimately what takes us where we want to go right. So let's give you an overview of the tools we'll be discussing to help us live our best lives with Parkinson's. We'll lead it off with the power of goal setting, why it's important and how it can help us to take action. Then we'll transition into the process for helping us set and achieve our goals the SMART framework for helping us set and achieve our goals the SMART framework. Then we'll move on to discussing overcoming challenges with goal setting and then it's time to create and implement your plan and measure your progress. Finally, we'll talk about staying motivated to help us achieve our goals and live the life we want to lead, despite dragging Parkinson's along for the ride. So if you're ready, let's get out of the starting gate and get moving and look at the power of goal setting and why it's important.

Speaker 1: 2:12

Remember the old adage what the mind can conceive, the body can achieve. Personally, I believe that's true that anything we set our mind to do and have the passion and the drive and the desire to do, we can achieve it. But it's also been said that dreams without goals and action are just that dreams. We can all have great dreams, but if we don't have goals and a plan to get us there, it's difficult to achieve our dreams. So that's why it's so important to have goals to work towards and measure our progress.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Setting goals is more than just a New Year's resolution. It's about creating a roadmap for the life you want. In fact, studies show that setting clear goals can boost mental health, reduce stress and even improve physical outcomes. For those of us navigating Parkinson's, goal setting helps us take control of what we can and sometimes feels like an uncontrollable journey. So that begs the question how are goals different from resolutions? Now, I just think that's a great question. Here's the way I look at it. Resolutions are a wish list of things that we say we want to change. So, for example, a resolution might be I want to lose 30 pounds, I want to get over anxiety so I can travel, etc. We often have resolutions in a new year but often struggle to keep our resolutions because we don't have often have specific goals or plans to achieve them.

Speaker 1: 3:43

Let's look at some sobering statistics on New Year's resolutions. In an article entitled 19 Surprising New Year's Resolution Statistics 2024 Updated, published on InsideOutMasterycom, the author notes that 38.5% of US adults set New Year's resolutions every year. 48% want to exercise more, making it adults set New Year's resolutions every year. 48% want to exercise more, making it the most popular New Year's resolution. The top three are all health-related 23% quit in the first week and only 36% make it past the first month. Yes, you heard that right. That's pretty sobering. The top three most common New Year's resolutions are number one, to exercise more, number two, to eat healthier and number three, to lose weight. Most people quit on the second Friday of the month. According to Strava, which is a running and cycling tracking app In fact, they've given it the name Quitters Day 43% of people give up their goal by February, which explains the high quitting rate in January.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Now here's the important part to me in this article the real meat and potatoes, if you will. According to the article, new Year's resolutions fail primarily due to timing. People are not ready to commit to their resolutions and give up because they lose motivation and have not prioritized their goals 35% of people attributing losing motivation as the top reason for giving up, followed by being too busy at 19%, and changing their goals slash priorities at 18%. Now, the main reason why people fail is the timing of New Year's resolutions. Now, the main reason why people fail is the timing of New Year's resolutions. While people want to achieve change, they have yet to be ready to commit fully.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Successful individuals reported more stimulus, control and willpower. They had social support and interpersonal strategies, and they became more important after the first six months of pursuing their goal. Successful individuals are likely to experience 14 slip-ups that's right 14 during a two-year interval, indicating resilience, or the ability to bounce back from setback, is essential for goal success. So sometimes with goals it's two steps forward, one step back, or two steps forward, three steps back. But the people that are willing to slip up and then still make progress towards their goal are eventually going to get to the goal because they have the resilience and the drive to do so. So let's compare the effectiveness of setting specific, measurable goals with New Resolutions, and start with the effectiveness of specific goals. People who set specific goals are 10 times more likely to succeed compared to those who don't.

Speaker 1: 6:34

Goal-setting intervention programs can inspire a person to achieve significant milestones, according to the article 13 Goal-Setting Statistics, research Studies, facts and Findings that was published on founderjarcom. The author references a goal-setting intervention program conducted by Jordan Peterson and colleagues at the University of Toronto, and they studied unmotivated university students who were struggling and planned to drop out, and the study revealed that goal setting can improve any task. The study found that setting specific goals motivates participants to engage in goal-relevant activities and avoid irrelevant activities, and they saw an improvement in the number of people that returned to class and didn't drop out. And then setting goals with concrete plans can significantly improve your behavior and transform your habits, and that's based on the conclusion of 384 case studies, according to the article. They referenced an article in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology that notes that you can improve and change your behavior by setting goals, and it works when you set optimal and clear goals.

Speaker 1: 7:53

The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology states that an optimal short and long-term goal should meet at least three criteria. Number one is it should be challenging but achievable not easy to do and do-it-yourself goals. So challenging but achievable. Number two is it's best when you can set goals face-to-face with friends or supportive peers. Face-to-face means in person, not online, but if you can have someone listen to you as you go over your goals, you're more likely to progress towards them. And then divide your goals into small tasks and focus on completing small tasks regularly Rather than you know. The old adage is you don't eat a whale in one bite. You have to break it down into bite-sized pieces. Now some final statistics on goal setting. Now some final statistics on goal setting Writing goals increases the chances of accomplishing them by 42%, according to a Dominican University study. The study also found that 70%, so 7 out of every 10 people who shared their goal with friends and family accomplished their goals. So that's pretty impressive.

Speaker 1: 9:11

So what are some challenges with New Year's resolutions that differ from people who set specific goals? Well, first, resolutions typically have a low success rate. According to a University of Scranton study, about 8% of people achieve their New Year's resolutions. Second, resolutions are often broad and vague, which makes them harder to achieve. And then, finally, lack of commitment Many resolutions lack a concrete plan, leading to a higher chance of giving up.

Speaker 1: 9:35

Now that we see some of the differences in why setting goals is important versus New Year's resolutions, and before we move into our next section on how to set goals that you can actually achieve, let's take a moment for a little reflection activity, as I like to call it, and what I'd like you to do is to take a moment to think about one area of your life where you'd like to see growth or improvement, and then jot it down, if you can. So if you're driving or you're maybe just sitting back and listening and don't have anything to write with, don't worry about it. But if you can jot it down and that was what area of your life would you like to see growth or improvement in in the new year? Now, maybe for some of you it's exercise more or be more physically active throughout the day. Someone else may want to spend more time with friends and family or start a new hobby. Keep whatever that is available, because at the end of the podcast, we'll turn your idea into an achievable, actionable goal goal.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Okay, now that we have at least one thing we want to work towards, let's look at how we can use goals to live our best life with Parkinson's, and one of the best ways I found for setting and achieving goals is using the SMART framework. Yep, that's what I said SMART, s-m-a-r-t. Now, I'm not talking about myself. Did you say SMART? Yep, I sure did. Chris. All right, you may be thinking I have no clue what that is. Well, not to worry, because we're going to open the SMART framework box and go over the contents. So let's go in order to make things make sense, and we'll start off with the letter S, since SMART starts with S. S stands for specific.

Speaker 1: 11:21

You want to make your goal clear and as specific as possible. So, instead of saying I want to exercise more to set a specific goal, you can say or write down the goal of I'll walk for 15 minutes three times per week and add five minutes on each week until I reach 30 minutes. So do you see how the goal is a lot more specific and actionable. The next up is M. So how are you going to measure and track your progress? Let's take our walking goal, for example. Now we may say we want to measure our steps to achieve 5,000 steps a day, or it could be a time-based goal, which could be I'll walk for 30 minutes each day versus our goal and whether or not we need to make any changes. So we might combine the two and say I'm going to walk for 30 minutes each day to achieve 5,000 steps and I'm going to measure it using my Apple Watch or my phone or pedometer, whatever it happens to be, and that's how we're going to measure our progress. All right, next up is A, and A stands for achievable.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Make your goals realistic and achievable. It's best to start smaller and build up Now, while lofty goals are nice and making them too difficult or unachievable may cause you to give up and quit on your goal. So, wow, it's great to say you know, I have these great, lofty goals. Just make sure that you have the ability and the chance to achieve your goal. So, for example, instead of saying, hey, I want to lose 50 pounds in a month, which isn't going to happen, a better option would be to have a goal of losing one to two pounds per week until you reached your goal of losing 50 pounds. Next is relevant R Focus on goals that align with your values and your priorities, so that way, you're committed to achieve your goal. So if you have a bunch of exercise goals but aren't committed to exercising, it's highly unlikely that you're going to achieve your goal.

Speaker 1: 13:31

Then let me give you a personal example. I have a granddaughter Her name's Bonnie and I have a goal of losing 60 pounds over 10 months, because I want to get healthier, so I can be around to watch Bonnie grow up and enjoy spending time with her and the family, because this is a priority for me. I have a better chance of achieving my goal. And then, finally, I have a better chance of achieving my goal. And then finally, time bound T. You want to set a deadline or time parameter for your goal. Let's take mine, for example, from above for illustration. So, instead of just saying I want to lose 50 pounds, I want to make it time-based and I will say I want to lose five pounds per month for 10 months until I reach my goal of losing 50 pounds. I'll start January 1st 2025 and reach my goal by 10-1 of 2025. All right.

Speaker 1: 14:24

So now that we understand the SMART framework and how it can help us visualize and achieve our goals, think about your own goals and ask yourself these questions. Number one are they realistic within your current circumstances and do you have the ability and capability to achieve them? Number two do they align with your values? Are you committed to the goal? It's something that you're passionate about. It's something that you're passionate about. Number three can you measure and achieve your goal? So keep those three questions in the back of your head and write them down. If you will.

Speaker 1: 15:07

All right, let's talk about and look a little deeper into a few of the SMART framework elements for specific. One thing to do is consider breaking down broader objectives or goals into smaller pieces. So, for example, if your goal is improving balance with Parkinson's. One way to break it down is to specify the specific exercises that you're going to focus on, such as Tai Chi or yoga. Maybe it's six specific balance exercises that you're going to list and do every day. Whatever your challenge is, try to break it down into its smallest components that are achievable and can give you wins, so that you can continue with your goal. Now, in terms of measurable, you can use technology like fitness tracker apps or even use a simple notebook to track your progress. It can be a game changer For me in my 2025 life improvement plan. I developed an Excel spreadsheet tracker for tracking the type and quantity of food I'm eating, as well as exercise, meditation and mindfulness practice. So here's an example that's specific to me I will practice deep breathing and meditation for 10 minutes every day to help stave off anxiety and depression, which are common in Parkinson's.

Speaker 1: 16:15

Okay, now that we have a solid framework, which is our SMART framework, for generating and tracking our goals, let's look at overcoming challenges and goal setting, because we all know that, living with Parkinson's, there are always going to be challenges that we need to overcome and that are still going to allow us to live our best life with Parkinson's. All right, let's talk about some of the common obstacles that we may experience with Parkinson's. Some include fear, fear of failure, fatigue and even physical limitations. They can all make goal setting seem like a daunting task. But remember every small step counts. Now here's a few tips to help you overcome these common challenges. Number one break your big goals into bite-sized pieces. So, for example, if walking 15 minutes daily feels like too much, start with five minutes and build from there. Now let me give you a personal example.

Speaker 1: 17:16

A few years ago, and after about five years living with Parkinson's, I decided I wanted to learn to play guitar, because it was always something I wanted and I thought would be a great way to learn and be able to play songs for myself, my friends and my family. And when I was learning both the open and the bar chords, I had to break the process down into small pieces and eventually build on as I could. So once I could form each chord accurately and precisely, then I worked on transitioning from one chord to the other. Now, it wasn't until I wanted to start learning then to play songs that this really became more critical. Now, when you first look at a piece of sheet music and the song. One of the things I like to look at are what are the chords? Are they chords that I know and can play? And then are there solos, are there intros and outros and bridges? So some songs can be very difficult and some songs are not too bad to play, depending on the chords you're going to be playing and also if there's a lot of solos and things like that in there.

Speaker 1: 18:30

And so one of the things that when I first started to learn is sheet music can be very intimidating, and that's when I decided to break the song down into each measure, and a measure is just the number of beats before you move to the next measure. So it could be a lot of music is written in four, four times, so it's one, two, three, four, and move to the next measure. Some it's six, eight timings, so where you would go one, two, three, four, five, six. So what I decided to do was break it down into each measure and make sure that I was proficient and could play that, the notes or the chords in that measure, and then, once I could, then I would add another measure on and do the same thing until I got confident, and I would keep adding on as I learned and I would continue to build the measures until I could play the entire song proficiently. Now, doing this always gave me a sense of satisfaction when I could successfully play a song that everyone could recognize and I could play it along with the original artist. And I can play it along with the original artist.

Speaker 1: 19:34

Number two focus on what you can control versus what you can't. If you can't make it to yoga or stretching class because the weather's bad, stretch inside at home. Be flexible so you can overcome the challenge. Number three is ask for support. Involve a friend or family member or caregiver to keep you motivated. Now, a workout or weight loss buddy can go a long way in helping you achieve your goal. So find a buddy and you can help each other achieve your goals and your dreams. Number four celebrate small wins. Every victory, no matter how small, is worth celebrating, and this is critical. If you're trying to lose weight and you step on the scale and only lost a half a pound, that's okay. Celebrate the fact that you lost some and acknowledge you're still on your journey and progressing towards your goal. So this one is one of the key ones for me. Make sure that you celebrate small wins along the way.

Speaker 1: 20:35

Now let me share a personal example. I'll share a challenge I faced this past year. I set a goal to increase my flexibility because I noticed I was becoming very stiff when I sat for extended periods of time and when I was in the car for too long, where, when I first got up, it made it walking and moving around a lot more difficult. So I set a goal to increase my flexibility by attending yoga, soul fusion and stretching and flexibility classes three times a week. Now, some weeks I was only able to attend one or two classes, but I would remind myself that even that's even one step forward is making progress and helping me improve my flexibility. But one thing I did learn was doing the classes became a habit and I was able to make three classes a majority of the time by the end of the year. All right, now that we have some tips and strategies for overcoming challenges and meeting our goals, let's put it all together and create your goal plan so that you can achieve your goals and vision and living your best life with Parkinson's.

Speaker 1: 21:40

Now here's a step-by-step guide to setting goals. Okay, you can jot these down if you'd like, or just listen. But step one is reflect on last year. So think about what brought you joy and fulfillment, what challenges were you able to overcome and where would you like to see growth this year? And when I do sit and reflect on last year, I always try to look at, okay, what things went really well and what things can I improve on. And it's those things that I can improve on and want to see growth at I focus the most on, because the others I've achieved what I wanted to achieve.

Speaker 1: 22:19

Step two is identify focus areas. Do you want to work on your health, relationships, hobbies, knowledge and education, or a combination of all these? Step three write down three to five SMART goals. Remember to keep them realistic and meaningful to you. Just as a refresher, make sure that your goals are specific, they're measurable, they're achievable, they're relevant and they're time bound. Step number four create an action plan for each goal and then you want to break it into smaller, manageable steps with key progress and tracking and timing to measure progress against your goal. And then, step five schedule regular check-ins. This is going to help you to measure your weekly and your monthly progress.

Speaker 1: 23:10

All right, let's do an example together. So think about a health goal that you want to set this year. So, for example, maybe you say you want to improve your strength. A SMART goal could be I will do 20 minutes of strength training exercises twice a week using resistance bands so that it's specific and it's time bound. You're going to do it twice a week, and so then, if this was my goal, I'd write it down and commit to starting this week. So let me give you my personal example as well.

Speaker 1: 23:45

To help, I created a 2025 life improvement plan and set SMART goals for three specific areas that I felt I needed to improve in my life to live my best life with Parkinson's, and I divided my improvement plan into three categories health and wellness, well-being and quality of life, and number three was self-improvement. Now let me give you one SMART goal I have for each area. Under health and wellness, my goal is to lose 60 pounds in 10 months by averaging one to two pounds of weight loss per week. I'm going to achieve my goal by following a Mediterranean diet consisting of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats and whole grains. I will restrict and reduce sugar from my diet by focusing on eating whole, unprocessed foods, avoiding sweets and desserts and only eating those on occasion for celebrations, then I want to increase my protein consumption to one gram per pound of body weight and also avoid nighttime snacking and exercising. I'm going to help me prevent fluctuations based on water retention. So one week I might weigh myself and then the next week I might have retained some water and either the scale's showing I gained weight or I didn't really lose much. But by weighing myself four times a week, then I can take the average and that's going to give me a better reflection on how I'm doing Now. My whys are to feel better physically and mentally, to live longer and spend time with family and friends, and to be more active so I can enjoy my hobbies and interests. Now the second goal of several is to practice meditation for 10 to 15 minutes every day to reduce stress and anxiety and improve calm. I will track daily minutes and type of meditation and then finally, under self-improvement, I'm going to develop an online course for helping to improve the lives of people living with Parkinson's by March 2025. I'll measure my progress by tracking weekly the number of videos shot and edited, resources gathered and modules completed. Now, to help guide me, I developed an Excel spreadsheet tracker that allows me to identify and track my goals in one document with tabs for each category, and that I'm going to be using to track my goals. All right now. I hope that was helpful.

Speaker 1: 26:29

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Speaker 1: 27:54

All right, now let's talk about staying motivated. As we all know, goals are easier to set than they are to maintain, so let's look at some tips and strategies to help keep you on track. Number one visual reminders. Post your goals where you'll see them daily on the refrigerator, coffee maker or in your planner, anywhere, to remind you to stay focused and on track. Number two is find an accountability partner. Share your goals with a trusted friend or caregiver and have them ask you weekly how you're progressing toward your goal.

Speaker 1: 28:26

Number three reward system. Now, this is non-negotiable. Treat and reward yourself when you hit milestones, to give you motivation to keep going. And number four reflect and adjust If something isn't working. Tweak your plan without feeling guilty. Remember, these are goals to help guide us to where we want to go, but, as we all know, nothing is perfect and things may need to be modified. Remember, living your best life with Parkinson's is a journey and not a destination. Some days will be harder than others, but every effort you make builds resilience. Take it one day at a time. Celebrate your progress, no matter how small.

Speaker 1: 29:08

Now, as we wrap up, let's revisit today's key takeaways. Goals give us direction and purpose. They remind us that, while Parkinson's may shape our journey, it doesn't define our potential. So let's make 2025 one of growth and possibility and leading your best life with Parkinson's. Now, before you go, I'd love to hear from you what are your goals for the new year. You can share them with me and there's a fan mail section of this podcast or you can go to my liveparkinsonscom facebook page or go to the forum on my website, and you could leave it there and also on my ko-ficom page, because let's build a community of accountability and encouragement.

Speaker 1: 29:54

Now, don't forget to visit liveparkinsonscom and subscribe to the free monthly newsletter, which is packed full of information to help you live your best life with Parkinson's. And, as well, you can get additional free resources and read some articles that can help you on your Parkinson's journey. Now my goal is to create three to five new articles per month on my website to target things that are important to all of us. Lastly, if you enjoyed this podcast and want to keep it going, consider buying me a cup of coffee on my Ko-fi page at ko-ficom slash liveparkinsons. Your support will help me in developing and launching my Parkinson's course for living your best life. Thank you very much for listening. I hope you found this podcast helpful. Until next time, stay healthy, stay strong and live your best life with Parkinson's Thanks, and have a spectacular day.