In order to reach your goals, you need a clear-cut strategy — not just a random mix of tactics.
Once you set a wellness goal, it’s tempting to jump right into doing all the tactics that seem crucial to, for instance, finishing a triathlon, building five pounds of muscle, or improving your flexibility.
But oftentimes, people gloss over a key step of the goal-planning process: strategizing.
To be clear, tactics are the specific activities — the training programs, self-care efforts, recovery work, dietary changes, etc. — you’ll put into play to achieve a particular goal, says Equinox President Scott DeRue, an accomplished mountaineer with a Ph.D. in business administration.
Your strategy, on the other hand, helps to focus your goal and allows you to determine the appropriate tactics to get there. “Strategy is about a set of choices that you make about where you want to focus, where you want to play, and how you want to win or achieve your goals,” he explains. Without a clear strategy, you may find yourself engaging in activities that don’t actually help you reach your goals, says DeRue. Or, you could end up with generalized tactics that don’t sync with your personal needs.
Imagine you set the bold goal of climbing Mt. Everest. To succeed, you’ll need to develop a strategy, asking yourself which areas you need to focus on. In this case, you’ll need to hone your physical endurance, mental strength, and climbing technique. Once that strategy is in place, you can start engaging in tactics that help you accomplish that strategy: doing long cardio sessions, strength training a few times a week, meditating daily, and climbing smaller mountains. If you were to skip strategizing, you could end up with tactics that match your friend’s abilities rather than your own or align with, say, a sprinting goal rather than your mountaineering endeavor.
Thinking through these elements in advance is particularly important if you have your sights set on goals that are aggressive for your current abilities or schedule. If you’re a lawyer working 12-plus hours a day who wants to run a marathon, you need to be realistic about the amount of time, energy, and headspace you’re able to devote to your training, says Jacques Delaugere, a Tier X coach at Equinox Sports Club New York. Then, you can decide on sustainable tactics that will help you carry out your strategy and end goal, he says.
Once you’ve settled on your goal and strategy, pair up your tactics with habits you already have in place. Trying to increase your water intake in order to prep yourself for a week-long summertime backpacking trip? Start by drinking a glass every time you brush your teeth, and when that feels easy, add another cup, suggests Delaugere. Beginning with small changes and gradually building them up is the best way to ensure you stick with your tactics in the long term, he says.
As you take on your tactics, you may realize your goal — and, in turn, strategy — needs to be put on hold and revisited at a later date. Say you start doing pull-ups to fulfill your strategy of building upper-body strength, which will help you work toward your goal of climbing to the top of a rock wall. If you start experiencing pain during the exercise, you’ll want to pause your training and speak with your healthcare provider. Based on those conversations, you may decide to switch your climbing goal for a target that calls on your lower-body strength — and that’s okay.
“As a trainer, it's about finding something that can make [a person] feel equally as empowered but in a manner that is not going to disagree with them,” says Delaugere. “By taking that motivation and aligning it a little differently, you can still feel that sense of satisfaction and achievement.”