Goal Setting Series 1: Setting Realistic Goals

Most midlife women don’t struggle with goals because they’re undisciplined. They struggle because they’ve been taught to set goals as if they’re living in their past life—the one with more energy, fewer responsibilities, and a calmer hormonal landscape. In this episode of Total Health in Midlife, we’re kicking off a powerful four-day Goal Setting Series designed to help you set goals that finally stick.

Today’s episode explores why the traditional goal-setting methods you’ve relied on for years never accounted for your invisible workload, emotional labor, shifting hormones, or the reality of being “the responsible one” in everyone’s life. We pull apart the myth of the “realistic” goal and uncover the structural mismatch that causes your habits to fall apart the moment life gets loud.

If you’ve ever thought, “I should be able to do this,” only to watch your goals crumble during busy seasons, this episode will give you relief, clarity, and a new framework that honors who you are today—not who you were five, ten, or twenty years ago.

This is the beginning of a four-part series that will change the way you approach health, habits, and consistency in midlife. Let’s get started.

The Biggest Problem Midlife Women Face Regarding Setting Realistic Health Goals

Most midlife women set health goals based on who they used to be—someone with more energy, flexible schedules, stable sleep, and fewer caregiving duties. This creates a hidden mismatch: the goal may look realistic on paper, but it’s unrealistic for the woman they are today. When responsibilities expand, hormones shift, and emotional load increases, the same strategies that worked in their 30s simply no longer fit the structure of their current life.

The second major issue is that most goal-setting advice is built for people who aren’t carrying the invisible labor of an entire household. Traditional productivity methods assume predictable routines, full nights of sleep, and uninterrupted focus—conditions most midlife women do not have. So when their goal collapses during busy weeks, stressful seasons, or family demands, they blame themselves rather than recognizing that the system they were following was never designed for them.

Finally, the cultural expectation that women can “just try harder” keeps many stuck in cycles of guilt and self-blame.

Free Quiz: Still saying "I know what to do, I just don't do it"?  You don't need more information. You need to know why you're not applying the information you already have. This free quiz identifies the exact reason your healthy habits keep breaking down, and it's not willpower. 15 questions. 3 minutes or less. 4 possible patterns. 1 honest answer. 

Go to https://elizabethsherman.com/quiz

If you’re a woman in midlife who wants better health without obsessing over weight, you’re in the right place. I’m Elizabeth Sherman, a life and health coach and host of the Total Health in Midlife Podcast.

After coaching hundreds of women, I know the real problem usually isn’t “not enough information” – it’s too much of it, and not knowing where to start. With close to 300 episodes, this show can feel that way too.

To make it easy, I created a free Listener’s Roadmap that helps you figure out which episodes are right for you right now. Tell me what you’re struggling with – low energy, emotional eating, stress, sleep, exercise, or all of the above – and I’ll point you to a curated path of episodes and resources to get you moving.

Download your free roadmap at https://elizabethsherman.com/roadmap.