So now that you've read my introduction its time to get into the swing of things. And I think the best place to start is with a discussion on goals.
Goals are the things we work towards. They are what keeps us motivated and on track to achieve in life. A goal can also help you to travel the path you need to travel because it gives you something to work towards.
Think of goals like a road trip. There is your big goal. The long term one. Think of this goal as say going from one city to another. I live in Australia so we could think of this as going from Melbourne to Sydney. This is the goal that defines the trip. Along the way we pass through little towns and these would be our medium term goals. They are the milestones we measure our success along. They are places we can stop off at and take a small break before moving forward more. Then lastly we have small steps or goals that we cross along the way. These could be mile markers that we see on the side of the road telling us we are that little bit closer to the next town. They aren't very much in the grand scheme but they are small goals we can use to help us get closer to the bigger goal.
I look at goals in this way because like a road map we need a plan to get from point A to point B. Or in this example we need to know how to get from Melbourne to Sydney. We can try without a plan but research has shown your chance of success is much lower. If we don't know the way we will get lost.
That doesn't mean you have to have all the answers right away. But a good start is to have a long term goal. And it needs to be a realistic goal. If you are five foot four inches, like I am, then to have a goal of being six foot two inches so I can start my modelling career is not likely to happen any time soon.
Defining a realistic end goal for your journey could make all the difference. If you make a goal you can achieve then you'll be excited and motivated to keep moving forward. If you set a goal that you cannot achieve then you will get discouraged and disappointed when you cannot achieve this goal. You are setting yourself up to fail if you give yourself a goal you can never reach.
An example of this would be like above where my goal would be to grow taller so I can be a model. At my age this is not going to happen as I have stopped growing. But this also applies to weight. I know I can safely get to 90 kg and that this is a healthy well rounded weight for me to reach. However for me to say I'm going to weigh 50 kg at some point in the future is incredibly unrealistic for my size and build. Or to make it my goal to fit into a pair of size 8 pants. My hips simply are not those dimensions. Its a physical impossibility
So it is critically important that you set an end goal that is achievable. You also have to create a way of measuring this end goal that is realistic as well. So my goal is to loose the excess fat around my stomach and to be healthy. My definition, my measures, of when I achieve this need to clear so I can say to myself "yes I have achieved my goals".
The definition of success I will set for myself is as follows:
- I can comfortably wear the size 14 pants I have in my wardrobe
- My body fat percentage is in a healthy range for a woman
- My body weight is at most 90 kg
So now we can look at setting some medium term goals. We can look at putting in some small towns which we can look forward to getting to. This is also to help us stay the course. If we take the example of dropping dress sizes we can think of it that I have to go from size 18 to size 16 then from size 16 to size 14. Each time I drop a dress size this is a milestone, a large step in the direction of the big goal. They are points that I can stop and breathe and pat myself on the back.
These are points were you should put in a reward. Not a massive reward but something to look forward too. Maybe treat yourself to something you've been wanting for a while or treat yourself to a pamper day. I would avoid using food to reward yourself. Your trying to lose weight and using food as a reward will set yourself up for failure. I use food as a reward and that is a habit I need to stop this myself because it is a habit that threatens my success.
Now we get to the small goals. These are goals that happen in the space of a day or perhaps at most a week. They are very little steps that make up the medium goals which make up the large final goal. A little step could be something like "I'm not going to drink soft drink today. Instead I will only drink water." Or it could be just getting to the gym that day. Another small goal could be putting back that chocolate bar you were about to buy in the supermarket as a treat after a hard days work. They are the little victories you have every day. They don't need to be measurable but together they help get you in the right direction.
With small goals you could set yourself up with a tracking system. So if you medium goal is to get into a routine of going to the gym five times a week, for example, then you could set up a chart and hang it on the wall. You could use gold stars or something positive and say to yourself "If I achieve my goal of going to the gym five times a week for the next four weeks then I will reward myself with a day at the spa." That way each daily small goal of getting to the gym combines to help get you moving in a good direction.
So now that we have a system of goals in place we need to discuss how to achieve each step. We know where we are going and how to get there now. This is so we don't get disheartened and we have a plan of attack. There is nothing worse than setting a goal that is unachievable Because then you are going to beat yourself up when you don't achieve it or fail. And little milestones along the way mean that you can reward yourself in mini ways for taking a step in a positive direction.
The whole idea of goal setting in this manor is to keep you on track, give you those small successes that will lead to the bigger ones and to give you a plan of attack. Setting out with just an idea of loosing weight will dishearten you because you will try for a while then give it up when the journey becomes too hard. But by slowly and gradually changing over a longer period of time with a plan to do it you will have a better chance at success. Also by rewarding those small steps and building up to the bigger ones it won't seem so difficult and you will look forward to the achievement.
Next time I want to discuss ideas of small steps. The little things we can do every day to get to the big goal. I will finish off by asking you to think about what your end goal might be and what reward you can put at the end. A tropical holiday? A new wardrobe? A new car? Or perhaps just the thought of success. That bit is really up to you.
Image sources:
http://www.abundancecoaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Create-Smart-Goals.jpg
http://www.jonmott.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/goals1.jpg
http://pursuitofhappy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/setting-goals.jpg
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~dfk/blog/Travel/Blog/Entries/2009/6/2_Great_Ocean_Road_and_Melbourne_files/Adelaide%20to%20Sydney.png
http://www.easywaystosavemoney.com.au/images/998.jpg
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