Learning how to set realistic goals is not just important for addiction treatment – it’s a valuable life skill that helps people complete tasks effectively. For many, it’s tempting to set large and lofty goals. However, this often results in burnout or failure, especially if these goals are unrealistic. After repeated failures, a person may become unmotivated, or even give up. It’s important to not let this happen, especially when it comes to addiction treatment. Sticking with treatment is important, but it can be difficult if someone doesn’t know what a healthy and realistic goal looks like.
Thankfully, addiction treatment facilities like Painted Desert Recovery have staff members who guide clients into setting realistic goals in treatment. If someone doesn’t know how to set realistic goals, it’s an excellent place to learn how to do so.
Learning How to Set Realistic Goals
When someone enrolls in a mental health care or addiction treatment facility, they first must speak to a mental health care professional. Usually, this is a case manager, especially in facilities with varied available treatment providers. Their job is to assess their clients, help them formulate goals, and recommend treatments needed to reach these goals. Any mental health care professional would be happy to sit down with their clients and help them create realistic goals. The goal in the end is to teach them how to recognize what a realistic goal looks like and how to stay motivated to reach them.
This can be done through the use of psychotherapy to talk clients through their goal-making process. A skilled treatment provider can identify harmful thought patterns that may compel clients to continuously set themselves up for failure. This is also known as self-sabotaging, and can be a serious problem for those in addiction treatment. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is most useful in helping clients identify and change these negative thoughts and behaviors.
Psychotherapy is also useful in helping someone understand what realistic goals look like for them. Everyone is different and has different limitations. It’s important to understand this and not compare yourself and your progress to others. It can be easy to feel down because someone appears to be recovering faster than you. What you should do is focus on yourself and make goals that you know you can accomplish with enough effort and time. It’s also perfectly acceptable to break big goals down into smaller and more easily achievable ones. With enough practice and help from professionals, anyone can learn how to set realistic goals.
What Realistic Goals Look Like in Addiction Treatment
For a goal to be realistic, it must be someone that you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. As an example, it’s impossible for someone to overcome addiction in a single night. Having such a large goal with very little time to meet it only sets one up for failure. For example, a more realistic goal is for the client to speak at least once during their group therapy sessions by the end of the next month. This gives the client time to build up their courage and participate without feeling rushed or hurried. It’s more realistic to meet this goal compared to attempting the impossible.
Other realistic goals involve making small changes to your daily routine for a healthier body. Painted Desert Recovery utilizes holistic therapies as part of addiction treatment. This means the body and spirit are given as much attention and care as the mind. Some clients learn healthier habits through the use of nutritional therapy. They may make a goal to drink more water or eat more vegetables. It’s also common for clients to make goals to exercise more and get better sleep.
Again, for these to be realistic goals, the client must give themselves time to accomplish them. A person can’t run a mile in a day if they are out of shape. If you make a goal to walk 10 minutes each day and increase that length over time, a person will eventually be able to run that mile. A treatment provider can always offer assistance by helping you decide if you can realistically meet the goal you want to set. Part of addiction treatment is making changes as needed to a treatment plan. Sometimes this involves tweaking goals to reflect a person’s current ability and skill.
It’s a Journey, Not a Race
It’s important in addiction treatment to not be so hard on yourself. Part of creating realistic goals is to not torture yourself. It’s laying down a foundation to accomplish bigger goals later. For example, you can’t just overcome trauma immediately, even if you want to. Forcing yourself to overcome trauma too quickly can re-traumatize you. Instead, start small. Start by setting a goal to prepare to address your trauma. Then, once that is accomplished, you can set a goal to talk about your trauma in trauma-based therapy. With time, help, and work, you eventually will reach your goal of overcoming your trauma.
Sometimes people may need to re-evaluate their goals, and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you a failure. All it means is that you may need to take a different approach to meeting your goal. By taking your time and setting realistic goals, you will find the recovery process to be less stressful. The less you stress, the better it is for the treatment and recovery process.
Part of addiction treatment is learning how to set realistic goals for yourself. This is because many times, a person will set lofty, unrealistic goals for themselves. When they fail to meet this goal, it leaves them feeling helpless and distressed. Enough failures can eventually lead to a state of learned helplessness, where someone gives up before they even try. At Painted Desert Recovery in New Harmony, Utah, clients learn how to set realistic goals that they can successfully meet. With the help of qualified mental health care professionals, clients gain the confidence they need to complete their treatment and achieve recovery. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, don’t wait. Call (844) 540-0353 today.