Counters

Drinking Diary

My Goal and Plan

What are my goals?

Set a goal
When hoping or planning to change one's drinking the first step is setting a goal. A good goal provides a challenge, while at the same time is, obtainable and realistic. The more concrete the better. Beforehand think through what your aims are and express them in exact detail. Keep in mind "baby steps"! It took you years to establish your current drinking habits, changing them completely is not going to happen over night. A good goal is oftentimes reached step by step.

Your first step
You need to make a decision. Do you cut down your drinking or stop it completely? For those who are cutting down it's best to take a break from all drinking for a week or two in the beginning. This provides you a clean slate with which to start your new way of drinking.

Some personal goal suggestions
If you are trying to stop drinking altogether, it is important to set a definite quit date.

If your goal is to reduce your drinking, it will help if you plan on which days you will drink alcohol and how many drinks you will have on each of these days. Make sure you have at least two alcohol-free days a week.

It helps to record the number of drinks that you have each day. Keeping a record will remind you to cut down and it will help you to keep track whether you are following your goals. Check out the Drinking Diary for more about this.