What Are Your Goals?

I've been on my soapbox about goals before.  It's January.  Many people are in the midst of struggling with their New Year's Resolutions.  Why are your goals so unreachable?  Because you don't have an action plan?  So, say your goal is to lose 15 lbs....or if it's more or less, that's fine.  How are you going to do that?  Eating better?  Well, you don't just get to say "I'm going to eat better." and have it happen.  You have to define how you're going to eat better.  For instance, "I'm going to eat better by planning meals and snacks and incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my diet.".  Now, THAT is an action plan.  "I'm going to lose 15 pounds this year by incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my diet, planning meals and snacks, exercising daily when I get up and taking the stairs instead of the elevator."  Now, THAT is an action plan with a goal!  Get the difference?  Now, nobody but you can make those things happen, but if you at least have an idea of how you're going to reach your goal, you know what you have to do to get there.

Coming up, I'll talk about meeting resistance along the way and how to overcome the obstructions in your way; jumping the hurdles.

Pushing Your Goals and Your Push Goal

I've said how much I admire Chalene Johnson before.  She's amazing.  She's been in over 150 fitness videos, is a fitness coach, an expert on fitness, a work/life balance expert, and she helps people change their lives from the ground up!   What's not to love?  Okay.  I get it, only in case of jealousy and envy can you actually hate her.  But, once you read her and work out with her, she'll change your life.  Check her out at http://www.chalenejohnson.com and get up to speed.   Read her book, Push.  You can thank me for suggesting it later.

Chalene raves about her smart phone and how it changed her life.  After reading Push, and breaking my phone, I finally joined the smartphone revolution and bought my first smartphone, the Motorola Electrify.  Was it worth it?  Yes.  Do I enjoy having everything in one place?  More than I could have imagined.  Has it enhanced my life? I'll go out on a limb and say yes.  But, it has helped me get a little more organized and stopped me from running around in circles looking for that grocery list I misplace and the to-do list that I forgot the last item on.

To have goals, you have to decide what's important to you.  What's the one thing you wish you could improve on?  What's the one area of your life you're unhappy with?  What thing about yourself would you change if you had the power or willpower to?  These questions and more can get you to your goals and help you set them.  Beyond setting goals, you have to have action steps to reach them.  Ok, so you want to lose 10 lbs, now how are you going to do that?  Workouts? Meal replacement? Increased activity level? Better Nutrition?  Only you can make those choices.  Now, after you have decided your goals, what's the one goal that would change your life the most?  What goal aligns with your happiness so much that it's the ultimate goal?  That's your push goal!  Ideas like these are exactly what Chalene talks about in Push.  She goes way beyond these simple, basics of smart phone use and goals.  But, it all goes along with streamlining your life into what's important to you and forgetting the rest!  It changes your life in more ways than you could dream.