As I work with the moms in the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute’s My Heart Challenge: Moms Edition, I use a couple of tools to help people achieve their goals for change.

Readiness Ruler

A very simple and easy way to assess a person’s level of “readiness” (i.e., motivation or confidence to tackle a problem area in their life, or a goal they would like to achieve) is to have them honestly assess their desire to make a specific change. For example: One a scale from one to ten – 1 being “not motivated” and 10 being “extremely motivated” – where would you say you are with this particular change?

This helps the person decide whether or not they really should invest their energy in that particular goal.

SMART Goals

In order for people to be successful in making a true change in their lives their goals should have five important components: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely.

If people are highly motivated and create SMART goals they usually can be quite successful in making changes. However, no one is perfect during the process of change so being prepared for how to handle setbacks is also an essential piece to be successful.

Below is an interview I did at Fox 13 News to discuss ways people can use these tools for better health.