Some people scoff at the idea of making a resolution because they say that most are never kept so why make them anyways. I look at it another way. You cannot grow as an individual without pushing yourself. Life is all about adapting to change because it is coming whether we like it or not. To shy away from setting goals destroys your ability to tackle change and make change work for your benefit.
The reason most goals are not met is because no one ever sets a course of action or plan on how to accomplish it. It is very easy to just say, I will quit smoking, it is quite another thing to actually do it.
So I am going to describe how I set goals and how I plan for them. They do not have to come once a year or New Years eve. They can come at any time throughout the year. There can be more than one.
They can be short term or long term. They can be life or career changing. The fact is, goals are what you do when you want to better yourself, challenge yourself, change yourself. They can be liberating, they can inspire others, they can lead to more challenging goals.
So how do I set a goal?
First you have to look at the scope of what you want to do. Then look at the timeline of when you want to achieve it. You also have to be somewhat realistic. Remember this, you can always revise your goal at any point along the way so don't try to bite off more than you can chew!
For example, someone that has been sedentary their whole life shouldn't just wake up one day and say, I am going to run a marathon in three months. That is a perfect formula for disaster.
First you should read up on what it takes to run a marathon. Read articles from trainers and experts on the subject. You start to get an idea of what it is going to take and can you commit to that.
You may want to start off your training slow and participate in a 5K run first. Then gradually work your way up. Who knows, you may be a natural born runner and you never knew it. Use that to your advantage by revising your goals timeline.
Planning your goal...
The best plan for failure is to have no plan! Write down what your goals are. Set them up in mini stages whether it be weekly, monthly, quarterly. They must be broken down otherwise you become frustrated. The more details you have, the better. You can always go back to revise or add more detail. Make it real, make it be your script of what you are going to do when you wake up every day.
There was an artist that many years prior was not very good at painting. He set himself out one year to just do at least one painting a day no matter how bad they were. During this time he also studied the art of painting.
In the beginning, he was really, really bad. After the first year he had produced over 400 paintings. Although still not great, they were much better than when he first started. He had perseverance and continued his daily task. By now it was as routine as brushing your teeth.
By the second year he was already becoming a pretty good artist having done over 1000 paintings and drawings. Six years later, and still keeping to his daily practice, he was selling his painting, was considered a very good artist and they were being exhibited in art galleries.
The moral of that story is that this person had a goal with a very detailed plan. Note how he didn't set a goal of being a great artist by the end of the year. Otherwise he probably would have become frustrated and quit. His goal had detail and frequency, one drawing/painting a day no matter what.
Your goals plan needs to be written, have timelines, frequency and DETAILS noted and most importantly, it should be posted everywhere so no matter where you are, it is hitting you square in the face and you need to ask yourself the question 'Am I committing to it?'.
Visualizing your goals...
Having been a competitive weightlifter, I learned 'self hypnosis'. This was a practice used a lot by the Russians and Bulgarians who were the best at the time.
Self hypnosis is a short term trance that you put yourself through. You visualize what you are about to attempt. Whether it was the entire workout or just a particular set in an exercise.
The key to it's success was to make it as realistic as possible. Like viewing a movie of yourself before you even do the lift. Keys to making it realistic was that you concentrated on even the most trivial detail like a 'chalk mark' on the weight lifting plate loaded on to the bar, or a tear on your clothing that you were wearing. You imagined doing the exercise in exactly how you were dressed and in your surroundings.
In this trance YOU DID NOT VISUALIZE FAILURE, never! You envisioned success, the perfect lift. Practicing this hypnosis in every work out, you become very good and convincing yourself that what you are about to attempt will succeed.
So no matter what your goals are, wake up every morning and to bed every night visualizing yourself accomplishing this. So if it is achieving a certain level of success at work, for example, visualize yourself getting that commendation in front of your workers, or winning whatever prize they have at your company for performance excellence, or getting that nice big fat bonus that comes with achievement at work.
How do goals fail?
For starters, here are some quick failure traps when setting goals:
1. No plan was written or had some of the missing ingredients such as details.
2. Unrealistic goal, i.e. 'climb Mount Everest' in a year when you have never even hiked before.
3. Never taking the time to revise the plan, thus becoming frustrated and quitting.
How else can I make goals succeed?
Other than planning and visualizing, you should not let other factors creep in that destroys goal accomplishment. For example:
1. Resist Temptation, so if you are trying to have a cleaner diet, you need to accept that there will be temptations around you at all times and mentally prepare yourself on how you are going to resist it.
The same is true for reducing alcohol intake, or increasing exercise activity. There will always be a 'buddy' tempting you to have that one more drink or lets skip the workout and go do something else.
If you don't prepare yourself on how you are going to resist those temptations and have plans on how you are going to resist them, you have dramatically increased your change of failure.
2. Concentrate on Progress, just as it is important to set goals and mini goals, it is also important to be able to look back and see all the progress you have made. It is sort of like driving a car from point A to point B, a mountain let's say. It is very far away. It can become frustrating that you have driven for hours and you are not there yet. But it is invigorating looking at your GPS and see that you have already driven more than half the distance to your destination.
Progress breeds positive energy to keep moving forward. It creates a sense of immediate accomplishment. It confirms that you are headed in the right direction.
3. Focus on the NOW, do not procrastinate. Nothing better than starting whatever your goals are right NOW, not an hour later or maybe tomorrow or maybe next week. Successful people always practice in the NOW, they do not wait for later when NOW is the perfect time to do it.
4. Refrain from Failure, as soon as you see yourself starting to fail at any point towards your goal or mini goal, STOP, REVIEW, REVISE! Do not FAIL, this is a negative that can take a toll on your mindset in setting out what you are trying to accomplish. Remember it is ALWAYS ok to revise your goals, NEVER ok to quit your goals.
Summary...
In order to succeed in your resolutions just remember this:1. You can make resolutions (goals) at any time they don't just happen once a year.
2. Have a plan.
3. Visualize that plan.
4. Revise if necessary.
5. Avoid Temptation.
6. Review progress for positive energy.
7. Focus on NOW not LATER.
8. Do not let failure set in, there are always setbacks but learn to STOP, REVIEW, REVISE.
Have a Happy 2014 and make this the year that you change your life!
Fit Forlife
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