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Setting and Achieving Your Goals
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Article Content
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| To succeed, start by changing one small thing |
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The beginning of theYear traditionally prompts individuals to make New Year’s resolutions. Usually it’s something big they’ve wanted or waited to change. They feel motivated, enthusiastic and hopeful for a month or so. Then the realization hits that they bit off more than they could chew. The time commitment is too great, it’s too expensive or it takes too much effort. Maybe later, when things settle down, they’ll try again. If this sounds familiar, try something different this year.
Instead of trying to make a big change in your life, try making small changes. Don’t plan on getting up 30 minutes earlier to exercise in the morning.
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Get up 10 minutes earlier to meditate before you hop in the shower, to write out your “to do” list for the day, or to stretch, eat breakfast or walk the dog.
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Go to bed 10 minutes earlier that night, lie in bed and read a book, practice a new relaxation technique, listen to some soothing music, stretch and maybe even go to sleep.
Try to be consistent with your small changes for two or three days during the week. When you have achieved your goal, set your sights a little higher for the next week.
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Continue what you’ve been doing, and then add something new. Maybe you will actually take your lunch break more than once this week, or bring your lunch to work on a couple days, or take a walk and eat out one day. Maybe you’ll try a meatless lunch or dinner, increase the amount of water you drink by one glass or decrease the amount of caffeine you drink by one cup. What one small thing would you like to change about yourself or your daily routine? Don’t be deceived; making even small changes can be difficult. Be kind to yourself, start slow and stay steady — one small step at a time.
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| Goal Setting |
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Goal setting has been proven to be very beneficial for many individuals or groups who would like to make changes in themselves or their lives. If you are the type that likes to do this or if you have never set a New Year goal or resolution and would like to start now, here are a few hints you may want to follow. First decide if this will be a long-term goal (attainable within 6 months to a year), or if short-term goals would be better (anything from a week to a month down the road). Be specific, “I would like to save $50 by March 1st”.
Then ask yourself the following questions, is it a reasonable goal, something that you’d have at least an 80% chance of accomplishing. Will the results be visible, for instance putting aside $5 a week in savings instead of buying lattes every morning (you would see the savings). Is it something you really want to do, or is it what someone else wants you to do?
Write the goal down somewhere and keep track of the steps you take to reach it. This helps you see the progress and choices you have made over time as well as some obstacles that may have occurred. When you reach your goal reward yourself, then think about setting another one. If you do not reach it, maybe it wasn’t reasonable to begin with. Get back to the drawing board and try again. Change is the result of making several small choices over time or maybe just one BIG ONE. Either way writing it down can be an important part of the process.
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Last but not least, choose someone supportive to help you along the way. A good support person will listen and not criticize, encourage but not police you.
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