Setting goals is the first step on the way to living the life you want after kidney transplantation.

People who set goals accomplish more in their life. Goals help you manage the challenges after kidney transplantation and stop these challenges from managing you.

Goals are SMART

You can’t get on with your life unless you SET GOALS – things that can be accomplished in a day, in a week and in a month.

MAKE SURE YOUR GOALS ARE SMART

SPECIFIC: A general goal would be: “Get in shape.” A specific goal would say: “I will walk for 20 minutes, 3 days a week.”
MEASURABLE: To determine if your goal is measurable, ask yourself: How will I know when it is accomplished?
ATTAINABLE: You can attain a goal you set when you plan wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out steps towards the goal.
REALISTIC: Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished.
TIMELY: A goal should have a time frame.

Write out a long-term goal, one that you would like to achieve, let’s say over the next few months. To choose your goal, think of what you considered the most important for your quality of life and what helpers and obstacles may affect the steps you need to achieve your goal. Develop an action plan of short-term goals that will help you achieve the long-term goal. Short-term goals are things that you can achieve today or this week.

Setting goals is for everyone, with or without a transplanted kidney. For example, many people would have a goal to eat healthier. Let’s see how to make this into a SMART goal.

Let’s read the history of Samantha and how she made her goal to a SMART goal.

Meet Samantha

Samantha who had her transplant 1 year ago, lives with her husband and 10-year-old twins. The family has been relying on a lot of pre-packaged food since her husband has not had time to buy healthy ingredients or to cook since her illness and she was unable to do so.

Example of Samantha’s long-term Goal

“Over the next six months, I want to cut down on the amount of junk food I eat and reduce the amount of sugar and fat in my diet. I want to increase the number of vegetables and fruit in my diet.”

Examples of her short-term goals

  1. Every day from this week on, I will eat one piece of fruit and one serving of vegetables.
  2. From now on, when I go grocery shopping, I will look at the labels on the foods that I buy to check how much fat and sugar they contain.
  3. I will look up on the internet how much fat and sugar are too much.
  4. Over the next month, I will cook one meal per week from fresh not processed ingredients.
  5. Over the next few weeks, I will reduce the amount of processed food that I buy.
  6. Over the next few months, I will get some cookbooks and watch a cooking show on TV.
  7. Over the next year, I will take a cooking course with my husband, and get a babysitter so we can both go out.