Breaking Down Goals

It is not uncommon to be faced with daunting challenges that can quickly become overwhelming and lead to frustration and distress. In these situations, individuals likely face temptations to procrastinate, which creates more anxiety down the line or may drive one to give up altogether, leading to negative thought patterns of uselessness. People may even avoid opportunities or experiences that benefit them simply because a goal appears too massive or complex to tackle. One practical CBT skill to use in these situations is breaking down goals into more manageable chunks, a strategy that promotes motivation, confidence, and achievement.

This session is designed to maximize patient engagement and talk time. The focus tasks, small-group sizes, collaborative objectives, and individual work assignments are included strategically to meet this purpose. The timing, number of sessions, and room makeup may be adjusted according to need.

Session Objective: 

Delivery Time: 60 Minutes

Materials: 

Set-up: 

1. If possible, set chairs and desks in a semicircle. If no desks are available, distribute clipboards so participants have a sturdy, portable means of taking notes and completing tasks.
2. If a whiteboard or projector is available, write the session objective.

Procedure: 

1. Session Objective – Read the session objective aloud.
2. Introduction (10 Minutes) - Begin by asking if anyone has ever built a piece of IKEA furniture. As hands begin to raise, ask the room to keep their hands up if they successfully completed what they set out to build. Have participants scan the room to see how many raised hands there are. Next, ask how they did it and take a few answers. Once an answer involving following directions is given, show the group the first image from the Breaking Down Goals Opener document. Ask patients if they could complete the project if the directions were presented this way. Some might, but the reality is that most people would not be able to. Even those with the persistence and know-how to build would likely become frustrated at some point. Why?

Show the second image from the Breaking Down Goals Opener document. When we set out to accomplish something, it is essential to understand what steps are involved; this will help us approach the task in a logical and manageable way.

Engagement Task:  Pair Work - Imagine someone who wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but had no idea how to make one. Working with a partner, you have three minutes to write down how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using as many steps as you feel are necessary. Beginning with a simple task that patients should accomplish with ease will help encourage and show them they have what it takes already to execute this skill. It will also allow the clinician to gauge areas of need regarding skill improvement.

Choose a pair at random and have them read out their instructions. Follow them and take them very literally. For example, if they tell you to spread the peanut butter on the sandwich but didn’t tell you to get a knife, then pretend to use your finger. The point here is to have some fun but also to highlight the fact that, if you don’t have a clear plan, it’s easy to get frustrated because you don’t know what to do next, or you end up with a mess at the end.

Finish by eliciting responses to the following questions:

1) Why is having manageable steps necessary when approaching a goal?

2) What role does clarity play in the overall process / Why is it important to understand how to complete the individual steps?

3. Small Group Activity (2 Minutes) - Stop the Bus - Break groups into teams of three to four.  Explain that each team will race to come up with four common, challenging goals people in recovery face.  Once a team is finished, they yell, “Stop the Bus,” so the clinician can check.  Other groups should keep working in case the first team is incorrect.  Board examples from all teams.   Some examples could include:

reconnecting with friends or family

getting a new job/leaving a job

taking care of legal responsibilities

continuing education

saving money/getting out of debt

spending more time with loved ones

4. Model Goal Breakdown (5 Minutes) - Using the whiteboard and elicitation, model breaking down the goal into four to five manageable parts, using elicitation to promote group interaction.  For example:

Goal - Saving Money/Getting out of Debt

First, we would need to find out how much money is going out each month.  How could we do that?  Track spending.  For how long?  A month will probably be sufficient to know how much is going out, but we would also need to take annual or biannual payments (car insurance, etc.).  So, step 1 would be, tracking spending for a month.

How much money is coming in?  Step 2 would be to subtract money spent from money earned. 

Now, the next step, especially if the money spent is more than the money earned, would be to use the tracking sheet to separate discretionary from necessary spending.  In what ways can we save?  Do we need to find ways to earn more?  How would we do this?  Answering these questions will give us a monthly budget.

 Once the budget is established, we will need to divide the monthly surplus into the total debt or savings goal to give us the amount of time it will take to complete the goal.

5. Small Group Work (10 Minutes) - Using the same small groups as the Stop the Bus activity, assign groups different goals and have them work together to break them down into manageable steps.  If groups finish early, they can attempt to break down a second group goal.

6. Group Discussion (12 Minutes) - Lead the group in discussing takeaways from the previous activity.

1) Could the goals have been broken down differently? How?

2) What is the most critical step of this goal? Why?

3) Are there more effective ways to do this part? What are they and why?

7. Individual (5 Minutes) - Have each group member consider a personal goal and break it down on paper. Participants who finish early may consider challenges they may face during each step and ways to overcome them.

8. Feedback Mingle (10 Minutes) - Have participants move around the room and pair up with someone to share their goal and its parts. After sharing, partners give each other feedback and advice. Encourage group members to meet with at least two different people.

9. Wrap (5 Minutes) - End with final takeaways.

1) Which feedback did people find most valuable? Why?

2) Were there any goals that were particularly challenging to break down? Why?

Distribute the Goal Breakdown document. Before the next session, participants should complete the sheet using a different personal goal than they did in group.