This content is designed for the participants of the GGC Pain Management Programme.

Goal setting – why is this part of a Pain Management Programme?

This presentation aims to explain why goal setting is one of the strategies we use in pain management.
We will also discuss the steps involved in setting goals to help you feel confident to give this a try.

Why do we set goals?
You can probably think of times when you have set a goal – maybe around exercise or weight loss, or perhaps something around work or family.
Take a moment to jot down anything that comes to mind and perhaps now or later spend some time thinking about why you set that goal and how things went.
Setting goals helps us identify what is important to us right now. It helps to keep us on track with making sure we are doing things that matter.
Having a goal means we can measure whether we did it or not and whether we’ve made improvement salong the way.
When we achieve a goal it really gives us a boost and we can feel proud of ourselves and know we worked hard to get the result we wanted.

Sometimes when we can’t see the wood for the trees we can feel a bit stuck. Often we might try to think our way out aof a situation or just hope it might get better by itself.
What we know from studies looking into human behaviour, is the easiest way to make a change is to change what we are doing by doing.
A patient recently summed this up nicely when she reflected back on her progress ny saying
I can do it because I do it.
What she meant was - the only way I got better at this activity or task was by actually doing it.
What do you think?

Why set goals now?
Over the coming weeks we hope you will find the group support to be valuable. It gives you a place to try things out and explore what’s working and what perhaps is more challenging.
The team can offer advice based on their knowledge and experience and can sometimes see things from a different angle that might help.
The good thing about setting a goal early on the programme is that we can use the coming weeks to monitor your progress. We will be asking at our weekly catch ups how you are getting on.
Often when people set goals they might have aimed too high or even too low and together we can troubleshoot and try again.
We would recommend you take a few moments to look up this short video clip on youtube before we go any further into the presentation as it helps explore this topic further. It’s just over 3 minutes long.
Write down anything that you might want to discuss further or that you found helpful or even unhelpful.

It can help to pull apart the meaning of a value and a goal because they are differed but they work well together when they are connected.
Our values reflect WHO WE ARE. They are very much part of our personality and character and often don’t really change all that much over the course of our lives.
e.g. I really like to be organised – if you think about it this is an ongoing thing rather than something you will ever ultimately achieve.
The goal is the achievable bit and keeps you on track with your value
e.G to be organised I will start every day with a to do list
So – values are what makes us who we are and goals are how we put that into action.

Here’s another example.

See if you can notice the difference between the value and the goal but also how they are connected.

Pause the presentation here to give this a go.

Try to identify a clear value you have - what matters to you?

What would be a goal you might consider setting that would help steer you in the direction of that value?

S= Specific (Don’t set a vague, fuzzy, or poorly-defined goal like, ‘I’ll be more open with people. Instead, be specific: ‘I’ll start with being more open with one person (name). The first thing I plan to talk to them about is (choose topic)........In other words, specify what actions you will take.)
M = Measureable (How will you know when you have achieved your goal?)
A = Achieveable (success is more motivating than failure – setting realistic goals will in itself be motivating)
R = Relevant (Is the goal important to you? Does it fit with your values?)
T = Time-limited (Put a specific time frame on the goal: specify the day, date and time — as accurately as possible — that you will take the proposed actions. Setting a clear time frame helps you focus your efforts, and helps you to review your goals. If you have not achieved a goal by a set time, you will then be able to explore the reasons why this might be)
I = Independent (The goal should be independent of the weather, friends, financial constraints etc., wherever possible. A medium term goal might be to save money in order to achieve a longer term goal of travelling somewhere)
E = Enjoyable (If a goal is enjoyable to you, you may be more likely to want to take steps towards achieving it. You are the expert on you – set goals that will fit with your values and what you enjoy wherever possible)
The more of these you can tick, the greater your chance of success – but remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect, the important thing is to try and take a first step

If you can be specific about what you want to achieve you will know when you have achieved your goals

Set goals that you can measure your success. Use numbers to measure that success. Those numbers might reflect how often you do certain things, like the number of times that you go for a walk in a week; or how many book chapters you read, or how long you do something for or how long you give yourself to achieve something.

Goals that work best are one’s that are achievable. Setting yourself a massive challenge might feel motivating, but the downside is that is can seem so far away from being achieved. Similarly, setting goals that are too easy, might not give you enough of a sense of satisfaction from your achievement. The best goals are those that are a bit challenging but still within your limits.

Hopefully, because we’ve thought about our values, the goals that are set here are relevant and will matter to you. But think carefully whether you are doing them to please someone else or whether you actually care about achieving them.

Be clear about time. Say to yourself that you are going to have achieved your goal (or part of it) by a certain date – give yourself something to aim for. It also helps to be specific about when you are going to do something, so that you can set time aside and not let it slip. Saying that you intend to go swimming three times a week might be difficult if other things crop up in the beginning of the week and you have to fit it all into your weekend.

It’s really important that your goal shouldn’t feel like a chore and make you miserable! There’s no doubt aspects of working on your goal will be hard work but it should still feel worthwhile and hopefully enjoyable at the same time.

If it’s not, perhaps you have set the bar a bit too high initially and you might have to look a bit more about how achievable this step is.

Trial and error is OK.

Breaking it down into manageable steps is really important for building your confidence.

This is how you will experience that sense of achievement.

Plan ahead so that you maintain a sense of momentum and not grind to a halt.

Pacing is a big part of this as we have to remember the impact this may have on your pain. So it’s important to work within your limits and not push yourself into a flare up. This will only put you off.

Equally, it may be that you are working out of your comfort zone and pacing will help you slowly build up strength and stamina over time to achieve your goal. It may take longer than you thought but again, that’s OK.

Here are some suggestions as to what areas you might want to set some goals in. You might want to work on your relationships with family and friends; go back to, or take up a new hobby; do something to improve yourself, such as doing a course or learning a new skill; get fitter, eat more healthily or lose weight; or you might want to do something for other people, either people you know or help someone less fortunate than yourself.

Please take some time to use the worksheet provided to start exploring what ideas you might have and where some group discussion might help you.

Often we find that this is an area where some people need a little bit of guidance with so don’t worry if it still feels a little vague or even a bit overwhelming.

Often just exploring your values, that is, what really matters to you, is the key to working out what your goal could be.

Start there if it helps and see what comes to mind. It’s important to start small – everybody has to when you think about it. One step at a time.

This is the end of this presentation. Thanks for listening.

End of video transcript

Return to preparation for session 3