Unleashing the Power of Psychology: A Roadmap to Achieving Your Goals in 2024

As we step into a new year, the pursuit of our goals becomes a focal point for many. This blog explores the fascinating realm of psychology and its application in helping you reach your goals in 2024.

By understanding and implementing psychological techniques, you can maximize your chances of success and transform your aspirations into tangible achievements.

Set SMART Goals:

Psychology tells us that well-defined goals significantly increase the likelihood of success. The SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—provide a structured framework for goal-setting. Clearly outline what you want to achieve, break it down into smaller milestones, and assign deadlines to keep yourself accountable.

Visualize Your Success:

Utilize the power of visualization, a psychological technique that involves creating a mental image of your desired outcome. By consistently visualizing your success, you enhance your motivation and focus. Imagine the emotions, the sights, and the sounds associated with achieving your goals, creating a mental blueprint that guides your actions.

Develop a Growth Mindset:

Psychologist Carol Dweck introduced the concept of a growth mindset, emphasizing the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, learn from failures, and see effort as the path to mastery. Cultivating a growth mindset will empower you to persist in the face of setbacks.

Utilize Positive Reinforcement:

Positive reinforcement is a powerful psychological tool that involves rewarding yourself for achieving small milestones along the way. Celebrate your successes, no matter how minor, to reinforce positive behavior and build momentum. This approach taps into the pleasure centers of the brain, making the journey towards your goals more enjoyable.

Leverage the Zeigarnik Effect:

The Zeigarnik Effect is a psychological phenomenon that highlights our tendency to remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks more than completed ones. Break down your goals into smaller tasks, creating a sense of unfinished business that motivates you to continue working. This technique keeps your goals at the forefront of your mind, driving consistent progress.

Build a Support System:

Psychology underscores the importance of social support in achieving goals. Surround yourself with individuals who share your aspirations or offer encouragement. Sharing your goals with others not only creates accountability but also provides a network of support during challenging times.

Practice Mindfulness:

Mindfulness techniques, such as meditation and deep breathing, can enhance your focus, reduce stress, and increase self-awareness. By incorporating mindfulness into your routine, you create a conducive mental environment for goal pursuit. Clearing mental clutter allows you to channel your energy towards meaningful tasks.

Incorporating psychology into your goal-setting strategy can significantly enhance your chances of success in 2024. From setting SMART goals to leveraging positive reinforcement, each technique taps into the intricate workings of the human mind. As you embark on your journey, remember that the fusion of psychological insights with dedicated effort is a potent formula for turning aspirations into reality. Embrace the power of psychology, and let this be the year you accomplish your most ambitious goals.

Prioritize Your Mental Health: Do Not Ignore These Signs of Burn Out

Many of us have felt the heaviness of responsibility. Some of us have felt the stress of obligation. Staying up late to finish left over work or to meet a deadline? Checking work emails and accepting calls or texts while off the clock? Agreeing to do more work to cover for a coworker?

Are the projects piling up?

When these types of scenarios pop up, it is easy to think “just this once”, or “I’ll make sure this won’t happen again”. Over time, the weight of these emotions and dynamics can lead to burnout. In a culture filled with constant stimulation, over drive, and expectations, burn out has become increasingly common.

With mindful self-care and boundaries, we can prevent burnout.

What are some signs of burnout?

1) Lack of Motivation-Avoiding and ignoring tasks, difficulty to instill effort

2) Feelings of Defeat and Hopelessness-Feeling like you can’t complete tasks or even show up

3) Performance and productivity decline-Making mistakes, taking constant breaks

4) Change in emotional demeanor-Feeling sad, anxious, angry, or frustrated

5) Concentration challenges-Feeling easily distracted

6) Detachment- Not feeling invested in or caring about the work you do

If you feel you are struggling with burnout, here are some important self-reflection questions to ask yourself:

1) Why do I feel the need or obligation to take on extra work?

2) What are the ramifications of a decline of performance and productivity on my part?

3) What is my body telling me about how I am feeling emotionally with my circumstances?

Take some time to understand and reflect on your situation and ask for additional supports if you need it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!

How can I heal from burnout?

Recovering from a period of burnout takes time. Instilling effort to recover can often be extremely challenging when you are burnt out and running on an empty tank. Sometimes the best action to take when experiencing burn out is to leave the environment in order to heal, but sometimes you can remain in the same place with a shift of boundaries and expectations.

Here are some simple tips you can add into your day little by little to aid in recovering from burn out:

 Take a break or vacation (if feasible)

 Try to slowly add in some sprinkles of extra self-care throughout your day

 Carve out some time in nature for a walk or quiet time

 Unplug consistently

 Eat away from your desk

 Don’t check emails/turn off your phone after business hours

 Eat nourishing meals & stay hydrated

 Connect with friends, family, or a mental health professional to process your feelings

If you feel you’ve fallen into a pit of burnout, you CAN make your way out of that cycle with time and support. Do you feel stuck and need some extra help? We are here to help. Email us at hello@serenemindpsych.com or give us a call at 813.321.8280 to set up an intake appointment to see if one of our therapists can aid you in your healing journey.

Goals to Help You Mentally Succeed

This month, we are still talking about the pressure of change. How is it that when January rolls around, the whole world seems to fall onto us at once? Change your eating habits. Get out of that relationship. Get into that relationship. Exercise more. Get more sleep. Write in your calendar…. And the list could go on.

Most of these changes are pressures we place on ourselves, visions of a better future or a better version of ourselves.

Though we can remove these pressures with positive self talk and practicing self-care,  some of these changes may be unavoidable.

Maybe it really is time to change those eating habits or increase your exercise routine and it took the “new year, new me” phenomenon to decide now is your turning point?

If these goals are necessary and they do simply contribute to making you a better you, we can talk about how to set the right goals and how to achieve them with ease. 

We can learn, at home, how to stare that daunting new task in the eyes and overcome the obstacle without breaking a sweat (unless your goal is exercise, then maybe we achieve your goal with lots of sweat!). 

We can do this by creating SMART goals (because everyone loves a good acronym)! 

S in SMART stands for SPECIFIC: These goals should be simple in nature to allow for an easy transition. This goal is ultimately created to help us achieve something, it is also important that this goal is sensible. We do not want to put effort into a goal that is not benefiting us. Lastly, this goal should be significant. Even though I said this goal should be simple, it should also be important. For example, if your goal is to get more exercise, for S, our goal should be something specific, simple, sensible, and significant: Going on a walk. The exercise at hand is specific, walking, and it is not difficult to squeeze into your schedule, but still has purpose and aids you in getting closer to a healthy lifestyle.

M in SMART stands for MEASURABLE: We want to be able to track our progress, so “going on a walk” may be too vague to meet our M goal. This should also be meaningful and motivating. A good example of an M goal, for our same example, would be: Going on a one walk a day for at least one mile. 

A in SMART is ACHIEVABLE: Our goal of going on one walk a day for one mile, is a specific and measurable goal, but is it motivating? Does it seem too difficult too quickly? We want this goal to be meaningful and if it is not motivating enough, you probably aren’t going to do it. We can adjust our goal to be more motivating: Going on a walk every day starting with one lap around the block and increasing by one lap, each week. 

R in SMART is RELEVANT: Can we go on a walk every day? In Florida, yes probably. In Buffalo, NY, there are blizzards and snow and truly no, we probably could not take a walk every day. But, if we live in Florida, and we are okay occasionally getting drizzled on, then our goal can remain the same because it is reasonable. 

T is SMART is TIME BOUND: Making goals that work within your schedule may be the most important because if our goal fits in all of our SMAR reasons but we can not manage to take that time out of our day, we will never get around to reaching it. If we work a 9-5, maybe take the time right after dinner to take this walk with your family. Have a back-up option for days that time may be limited. For example, if we can track our steps during our walk around the block, we may be able to walk around our house days that we can not make it outside to receive a similar step-count to get close to your goal. 

Setting and carrying out goals can be difficult, believe in yourself and make sure your goals are realistic… and smart… we can make reaching those goals possible. You have got this!

Therapists Agree, You Can Make Change Happen

Routines are hard to maintain. They are healthy because they keep us organized and help us maintain some sense of normalcy. But what happens when there is a glitch in our routine? What happens when we have to make a change?

Now, change can be a very broad term. We can change many things like the color of our hair, the clothes we wear, the way we act or even the way we think.

Each form of change comes with one common factor: the unknown.

Every time we make a change we take a risk, no matter how small or how noticeable this change may be. The changes that are the hardest to make though are those that come from within, rather than those that appear on the outside. Working to make an inner change is hard and it is completely normal to not know where to start or how to go about it.

Let’s talk about some examples of what making an inner change looks like.

It is healthy for us to notice our negative qualities and want to adjust them.

A bad trait we sometimes have is addressing ourselves with a negative tone. By this I mean you wake up in the morning, get ready for work, walk past a mirror and think “yikes” to yourself as you walk out the door because you’ve had better hair days before and today was just not cutting it.

We can start by taking baby steps toward the changes we wish to make that will create an overall happier version of ourselves.

Step 1: Identify the problem. What is causing you to be upset? When you go through your daily routine, take note of the things that make your day better and of the things that make you feel uncomfortable. By identifying the underlying causes of our feelings and insecurities, it becomes easier to change these behaviors slowly over time.

Step 2: Create a plan to make things better. If you notice every day you do happen to be that person that tells yourself you don’t look that great when you walk out the door in the morning, make it a priority to find something about you that you DO like. Look at yourself and find one thing to compliment. This will help build self-esteem and help us realize that no one is perfect so we must love our imperfections.

Step 3: Surround yourself with support. If you feel uncomfortable around a group of people, you feel like they are not good for your mental health, find a way to fix it. This does not always mean kicking people out of your life or cutting them off but, instead, try to find other grounds to talk about, other common factors. Learn to listen, rather than talk for a more positive outcome.

Step 4: Maintain a routine. Once we have identified the things we wish to change and come up with a plan to enact this change within our daily lives, we must find a way to keep the positivity prevalent.

As I’ve said before, being human is hard. It is not always easy to know right from wrong. It is not always clear what steps we should take to make ourselves feel happier. Change is ultimately inevitable. So, if we can learn how to maintain a sense of normalcy while going through a change that we decide on, it will make it easier to cope with the changes in our lives that are out of our control.

4 Steps For Self-Growth - A Mental Health Perspective

How often do you find yourself looking in the mirror wondering where the 18-year-old version of you disappeared to? You look at yourself, thinking that the size of your jeans actually plays a part in your ability to make friends or fall in love. You may catch a glimpse of yourself while walking out the door and think that if you could look a certain way, maybe people would treat you differently. Negative thoughts of yourself swirl through your mind just to pollute the your self image.

Well, I’m here to tell you that those thoughts are not working for you. You will always be the only version of YOU and no one can take that away. As humans, we sometimes believe that growth is something that just comes with time. We think that things will eventually just change for the better and we will naturally just grow into the person we want to be. It is important to think deeper into that theory and imagine what our lives would be if we choose to do nothing and just assume growth will happen.

You can think of it almost like the life of a plant. Now, I have no green thumb but I do know that if you forget to water your plant and keep it out of the sunlight, it will soon wither away to a very little, frail version of its previous self. This is similar to what happens to us as humans. If we forget to love ourselves, to forgive ourselves for our mistakes, to love the body we have, we will become weak and frail. The best way to avoid this is to simply tell ourselves we are enough.

Now, I say simply, but I know this is no simple task at all. This will require work and dedication. It takes discipline. If every time we looked in the mirror we told ourselves we loved the body we live in, rather than hate it, eventually we will. Like a plant, we all need a little love, compassion, and sunlight to help us grow. Being mean to others never got you ahead in life. What makes you think being mean to yourself will?

Here are some steps to help you focus on your good qualities and the love you deserve to show yourself. Self-growth is a process, be gentle with yourself.

Step One: Locate the problem. What is affecting your self-esteem? Is it a relationship or an outside source? Where is it coming from?

Step Two: Avoid negative self-talk. Like we talked about before, speaking negatively toward yourself will only harm you.

Step Three: Connect with those who love you. This may be a relative or friend, anyone who sees the good in you that maybe you are having a hard time finding. Being around positive supports can help us remember why we love ourselves. .

Step Four: Set a goal and make it your challenge. Focus on the good around you and create routines to achieve it. Having good hygiene and a clean room will help clear your mind as well. Open the blinds to allow light and take a walk outdoors.

All of these things will be pieces of the puzzle that will eventually fit together to complete your challenge, finally showing you the full picture. Don’t forget, we are all human and no one is perfect. Rather, perfectly imperfect in our own ways.

The 3 R's to Help You Stick to Your Resolution - A Mental Health Perspective

Such as the New Year, I would like to take a closer look at New Year’s Resolutions. How many of us have made one this year, and moving towards the end of the month, aren’t feeling all that hopeful anymore? How many of us have made the same one that we made last year…and the year before that? I am writing this in the hopes that after reading it, you don’t walk away feeling discouraged, or berating yourself. All of us have things about ourselves that we would like to work on, but there are right and wrong ways to go about it. A New Year’s Resolution should not be something for us told hold over our heads like a demanding cloud of gloom. It should a goal. Humans are creatures of habit. If you have been doing the same things for the past fifteen, or even five years, please do not think that you will suddenly be able to change it at the stroke of midnight. 

The same way that a habit is made, it can be broken. Some of us don’t know how we even got to the point that we are at today, we just know that change is necessary. Know that is half the battle, having the motivation to see it through, is the other half. I would like to share a little bit of knowledge that I acquired recently that might make this whole thing seem a little more feasible. 

What are the 3 R’s of Habit Formation? 

Reminder: The Reminder is a trigger and it can come in the form of many different forms such as a location, time, struggle, emotion, or action. A good amount of the time, this isn’t something that is within our power to change.

Routine: Then there is the Routine, which is what we do in response to the Reminder. This is where change happens. You control how you respond to that Reminder, and you alter your process. Try doing this 21 days in a row, however big or small it may be, and you are on track to modeling a new behavior.

Reward: The last is the Reward, and this is the joy within ourselves that we feel after a job well done. Don’t forget to celebrate each day that you accomplish your daily goals.

This formula is broad for the purpose of it being adaptable to all of your different situations and work habits. There is wiggle room, and forgiveness if you allow it. There isn’t room for self-doubt, or beating yourself out, so leave it all at the door, and see what happens. I wish you guys the best of luck in all that you set out to accomplish and have the happiest of New Years.

Our Therapists Share How to Motivate Yourself

While there is a certain objectivity to the goal setting process, our goals are a reflection of who we are and what we value. The art of goal setting is important to facilitating forward movement in both the coaching and counseling environments.

So how can you ensure you set goals that allow you to cultivate a momentum and will carry you forward into living life on your own terms? The key is to set SMART goals! SMART goals are:

• Specific: Specific goals are those that get down to business. What behavior or thought are you seeking to change in order to improve your satisfaction with your life or holistic wellness?

• Measurable: Measurable goals allow you to answer the question, “what will it look like when this goal is met?” If you either can’t measure your goal progress or don’t know what to look for, how will you know when you’re ready to set your sights on a new target?

• Attainable: Attainable goals are those that stretch you just outside of your comfort zone-- but not so far out of it that your goals are no longer within reach. This makes the difference between a goal that is a confidence boost and one that is a confidence bust!

• Relevant: Relevant goals help us answer the question “why”—why does this goal matter? What purpose will it serve to accomplish this goal? When you know your ‘why’, you can accomplish any ‘what’!

• Time-bound: Time-bound goals have a timestamp on them: By when will you have this goal completed? It is important to be realistic as you are setting your timeframe; again, this be a make-it or break-it for your confidence!

I learn through examples, so here is an example of one of my goals for this year:

In order to become the best coach I can be, I will read one piece of material per month that expands my knowledge and skill set as a coach. After reading each resource, I will create a 1-page summary of major takeaways and strategies I can use to integrate the resource into my practice as a coach.

Can you identify each element of the SMART framework in my goal?