Good, Better, Best: Designing Goals that Stick

All or nothing thinking is a shortcut our brains take when thinking about options, but it can lead us to make goals that are really difficult to stick with. For example, it's already Friday afternoon and you've only accomplished 2 of the 3 workouts you said you would complete this week. You really should complete that 3rd gym session, but you're super tired from a long week and it seems daunting. Your brain starts to tell you that if you can't do a full gym session, you shouldn't do it at all. Hence the name... all or nothing!

Most of us, especially when struggling with consistency, can benefit from a strategy to bust through all or nothing thinking and live more in the "gray zone"where doing something is better than doing nothing.

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Good, Better, Best: Designing Goals that Stick

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Think of a behavior you tend to be all or nothing about. In the box all the way to the right, you’re going to identify the best possible option. For our example, let’s use regular exercise. Maybe that means your BEST option is a full workout with your full effort at the gym.

Next, slide to the left, and in the middle box, write your better option, which is a step down from the best one. You’re going to explicitly identify exactly what that is. For example, maybe that means doing an abbreviated workout where you show up at the gym, but don’t do all of your typical routine or scale back your intensity.

Finally, you’re going to complete the box all the way to the left and write down your good option. This is a step down from the better option. So for example, doing a quick at-home workout or a brisk walk in the neighborhood. Having this activity done ahead of time helps give your brain actual options that live in that gray area. It is incredibly important to give yourself a bit of wiggle room to stick to your goals and develop consistency.