7. Set achievable short term goals to help improve your mental health
Falling into the snare of depression is often inevitable when it seems like there is no hope for the future. When a person has something to look forward to, their mind is focused on the positive (what they want) and they’re more optimistic about the future. When initially setting goals, you want to start with one thing at a time and preferably with something you know for sure is achievable in the short term.
A short term goal would depend on the person but it is something that can be achieved within a short time frame, or it can be a task that puts you closer to your long term goals. Goal setting is extremely helpful for confidence boosting and redirecting the mind from the current negative conditions, to being hopeful about the prospects of the near future, only if the goal is something you can achieve now.
What to do:
- Choose a goal that you know you can accomplish
- Visualize yourself achieving the goal and go over the steps in your head first
- Make an outline of what needs to be done by writing out a plan of action
- Start out doing one thing each day which gets you closer to achieving the goal
- Be patient with yourself, even a short term goal may take some time to achieve
