Goal Setting, A How To

I am not sure if I should even be writing this little note. For starters, I don't know that I have the time to dedicate to it, and give it the full attention that it deserves, but I can always edit it later. I can, but I know I won't. That is quite the parallelism for goal setting, don't you think? Another reason is I just wrote a blog on my own personal goals. So maybe I should have written this one first? No matter, here it goes!

There is no write or wrong way to handle conquering your goals, but this is what I do. Before starting with a goal (wish I had another word), it is important to decide what that will accomplish. Then we will know that we have the right goal down. Is your goal to fit into your skinny jeans? Is it to be able to drive the 2012 Sportscar? Is it to be a published writer? This goals, as with many are actually results from other goals. For example, I want to wear slim or tappered shirts, so my goals are to have abs and to have broad shoulders. You want a new house or car? What do you need to make in order to afford the payment? And the insurance? and maybe the escrow? Use concrete and tangible goals. Don't use vague terms like "healthy" or "weathly" or "well off," you came up with thsoe terms and you don't even know what that means. Its a true story that small victories lead to big accomplishments, if you don't know how far you have come, how do you know how far to go? 

That leads me to another point, small victories. Sure you are all gung ho now, but your motivation may start

 to fizzle soon. Small victories will keep you motivated! Weight loss is the easiest example of this. If your goal was to lose 10 lbs this month and the month is almost half over, your eyes may not see the change, but one step on the scale and you will see that yes indeed, whatever you are doing is working! This may even motivate you more than when you first started! I am a visual person so I use my small victories to accomplish my bigger ones! With paper I do a time line of my long term goals. Such as school, which the fall semester starts in August, so by May I need to have my student loans under control, so I need so much income by March. Little victories lead to big ones!

Publicize it! Whether you are a public or a private person let people know about it! You know the praise will encourage you to keep going. And now, therre are several people to hold you accountable. Perhaps you are trying to lose weight and a big bowl of ice cream sounds REAL good. Then out of nowhere you get a facebook message from a friend who wants to lose weight to but doesnt have the desire you do. You say good (based on earlier smaller victories) and then she asks how you did it? Ice cream doesn't sound as good anymore, your motivation is re-energized, and you have inspired someone else to do something that could change or even save thier life! Facebook is a great place for that! But also tell other people, they may have success stories. Only word of caution, get an actual support system, not people who tell you you are doing good but have destructive behavior, like offering you things counteractive to your goal. You know what I mean. They see you trying to not be the 2 out of 3 obese Americans yet offer you a second helping at dinner, they know you are trying to get that niecr car, but ask if you wanna go out drinking.

Clear goals, small victories, and a true support system. These are the thigns essiential to hitting my goals. HAve they worked? In the past year I have dropped 70 lbs, went from 24 to just over 11% body fat. Went from gasping when running about a mile to running over 7. A year ago I couldnt do 10 pushups, yesterday I did over 110, and then lifted weights. So, yeah, these methods have worked for me.