Depression affects 5% of people worldwide (according to WHO), with Mind suggesting that 8 in 100 people each week in England experience depression and anxiety. There is a lot of stigma around depression despite it being such a common mental health condition. Despite what many think, depression is not only characterised by feelings of sadness; it can also influence motivation, focus, self-worth, decision-making, and even energy levels. Depression can have a considerable impact on your ability to complete everyday tasks, and to maintain and nurture relationships.
If you’ve experienced depression you will know that even the smallest of tasks can feel more like climbing a mountain than a mole hill. Goal setting is a really useful and empowering tool that you can use when your mental health isn’t on top form. It can be particularly powerful for individuals suffering with depression. When everything feels difficult, achieving even the smallest of tasks can feel like a positive step in the right direction.
Understanding the link between depression and motivation
Your motivation can be heavily influenced if you have depression, meaning that you don’t feel like you want to do things that you once found enjoyable – let alone essential jobs. Unfortunately, traditional productivity advice usually relies on being motivated and having a sense of focus. This isn’t always appropriate for someone with depression and can lead to action paralysis, and so a different approach may be needed to match one’s emotional and mental state. Setting small, achievable steps can be far more effective, less overwhelming, and therefore easier to action. We’ll take a look at this in more detail later on.
Whether depression is new to you or is a condition you have been suffering with for some time, you may benefit from seeking professional advice from a psychiatrist in London or near to your home. It’s not unusual to feel low sometimes but when this lasts for longer than two weeks, and is impacting your ability to complete your normal tasks and enjoy life, it is something that requires intervention. Help for depression comes in many forms, including talking therapy, medications, and non-invasive depression treatments such as repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS).
The mental health benefits of goal setting
Goal setting has many benefits for mental health and these include:
- Completing a goal triggers dopamine in the body. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that can help you feel good. It is one of the four ‘happy hormones’ which include serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin
- Achieving a goal can help boost self-esteem
- It can help to provide a sense of purpose and direction
- It encourages progress and can make us more inclined to fulfill more goals
How to set goals when you are depressed
There are certain kinds of goal setting, as mentioned above, that work better than others when it comes to improving mental health. The best type of goal is the one that works best for you and while everyone is different there are some helpful tips and advice to give you the best possible chance of succeeding:
1) Make sure your goals are small and achievable. You may have heard of this referred to as ‘micro goals’. Setting unattainable goals can lead to frustration and can have a detrimental impact on your mental health. Rather than saying ‘I’m going to walk for one hour’ perhaps try ‘I’m going to walk for five minutes’. Once you have achieved that and have built some momentum, then by all means extend your walk!
2) Ensure each goal you set is clearly defined and not too vague. For example, instead of saying ‘I want to get up earlier in the mornings’ try ‘I want to set my alarm for 8am in the morning each day and get up and out of bed despite how poorly I slept’. Rather than ‘I will be more sociable’, try ‘I will engage the postman in conversation’.
3) Your goals should reflect the things that you have control over. There are always going to be things that are out of our control that we cannot change. Although these are often frustrating, setting goals in relation to these things will not be beneficial for you.
4) Be flexible – it’s no surprise that life doesn’t always go as planned and a healthy approach is to be flexible with your goals. If you don’t achieve everything you had hoped to in one day that is not a problem and you can try again tomorrow. The main takeaway is to approach any setbacks with compassion and to not let it affect your self-esteem. Nobody is perfect and progress is far more important than perfection.
5) The SMART framework is an approach that many people use and find helpful when it comes to goal setting when you have depression. SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. The aim of it is to make goals clearer and easier to achieve.
How to make your goals easier to achieve:
- Think small! Smaller tasks are far easier to achieve but once you have achieved one, you’ll feel the positive effect and may even be inclined to achieve another. Small steps lead to bigger changes
- Write down your goals or what you would like to achieve. This creates a reminder of what you intend to accomplish and can help with motivation. You could consider writing these in a journal or in an app to make them easier to track. You could even use reminders on your phone
- To make yourself more accountable you could consider sharing your goals with trusted friends and family members
- Life is always in flux and so it is important to reassess and adjust your goals regularly based on how you’re feeling and what is going on in your life
- Some people find that working with a counsellor can be really beneficial for their mental health and can help them not only set goals but achieve a happier healthier, state of mind
Now you know how to utilise goal setting to support your needs and your mental health, it’s important to remember to celebrate the effort and the process rather than just your successes. Progress over perfection any day of the week! Are you ready to start using goals to improve your mental health? Go on, start setting one tiny goal today to help you move towards a better future.
