Goals 

Do you have goals? Goals help you stay focused on the desires for your future. They can be short-term, say a week or a month. Or you can set your target for a year or five years. 

A goal is, by definition, the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result. The end toward which effort is directed.

No matter the size or duration of your goals, you’re wildly capable of achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. Let me repeat that because I want to be sure you heard it. 

You’re wildly capable of reaching your goals!

Goals Change

My fitness goal for 2019 was to tighten and tone my booty. I’m happy to share that I did it! However, my medical issues of 2020 kindly ripped my backside away, along with my lungs and all my muscle mass. This means my goals for 2021 will look much different than they would have if my silent disease hadn’t reared its ugly head. 

My fitness and nutrition goals include regaining agility and balance, adding 10 pounds of muscle mass, and discovering the proper nutrition for my new body. The medications I take put limitations on what I can safely eat. They also make it difficult to add muscle, and they hinder balance. That doesn’t stop me from setting goals specific to these challenges and pushing toward them. 

Grateful to be alive, I’ve taken time to reflect on my life’s purpose. I’m currently working on setting goals for my spiritual walk and my career. I don’t know what they will be exactly, but I’m confident they’ll be rewarding once I achieve them. 

Since the new year is right around the corner, it would be my honor to walk you through the process I use when setting goals. 

Before we get started setting goals, there are a few things to cover.

Are You Willing?

Are you willing to put in the work that will come in order to reach your goals?

If you pick a goal that will be challenging (and I hope you do), you have to be willing to take yourself spiritually, emotionally, and mentally to a place you’ve never been. Are you ready? 

How far are you willing to push yourself to do your best? The answer better be, “as far as it takes!” or you’ll most likely quit. 

You’re wildly capable of reaching your goals.

What’s Your “Why”

When you’ve finished with the goal setting exercise below, I’d like you to reflect on your goal. There’s a reason you’ll choose it. Maybe it’s for personal growth, or to complete something you’ve never been able to finish, or your reason might be to feel proud of yourself. 

Whatever it is, I want you to put deep thought into why you’re doing it? And when you pinpoint your “why”, save it somewhere safe as a reminder. 

Knowing your “why” will get you past the times you want to give up. Reminding yourself of why you started will help you push through to the end, where you will find your success. 

It’s easy to get discouraged or distracted along the journey. There’s a pretty high likelihood you’ll lose sight at some point of the reason you chose your specific goal. When that happens, instead of quitting, revisit and reflect on your “why.” 

You’re wildly capable of reaching your goal. 

Discouragements

It’s remarkably easy to give in to negativity. One minute you’re brave and feeling courageous, and then suddenly, something robs us of our confidence. It can be a negative thought, discouraging words from another, or failure.

STOP!

I’m going to tell you right now to STOP.  

Stop speaking negativity into your own life. The harsh words you mutter to yourself are most likely the biggest disruption to your progress. Quiet those thoughts and talk to yourself like you’d speak to a friend.

Whether others are discouraging you directly or if you’re comparing yourself without their knowledge, stop allowing them to bring you down. Your reason for being here is unique to anyone else’s.

You were created to do great things. You were made with a purpose, unlike any other, to impact this world. Be courageous!

Stop being discouraged by failure. Success doesn’t exist without failure. There will be ups and downs along the way.  You will occasionally fail. Embrace that failure. Learn from it. Then come up fighting!

You see, failure is not the opposite of success. It’s part of success. And you’re wildly capable of reaching your goals. 

Need a Little Help?

Wrapping your mind around what I mentioned above might be a little overwhelming. I’ve found it can be very helpful to talk through these steps with someone.

My purpose is to encourage, support, and guide others to find their purpose and reach their goals. 

I offer one-on-one mentoring in the areas of health and fitness, nutrition, faith, and personal accomplishment. 

If you feel I can assist in any way, contact me and we’ll work together to make sure you succeed!

To learn more about my services, please visit my Work With Me page. 

Setting Goals

Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Setting a goal!

I understand some people don’t enjoy setting goals. AUGH!! I used to be the first person to exit the room when someone handed me a goal-setting assignment. But I’ve come a long way, and I now see the incredible benefit of having goals. 

If there are no goals, there’s no direction to follow. You’ll most likely find yourself wandering aimlessly, wondering what’s next. I want to be sure this doesn’t happen to you. 

So, let’s dive in.

SMART Goals

You’ve probably heard of SMART goals already. It’s a proven method of goal setting. 

SMART is an acronym that stands for: 

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time-bound

Here is a FREE downloadable SMART Goal Worksheet. We’re about to use this worksheet, so take a minute to grab it. 

Your Specific Goal

You’re welcome to have as many goals as you would like, but we’ll focus on one for this exercise.

Think of one specific thing you’d like to accomplish. For example, you’d like to start eating healthier. 

That’s a great goal! But you’ll need to go deeper. 

What does eating healthier look like to you? Maybe you would like to add more vegetables to your diet. So, your goal could be something like this—add one serving of vegetables at lunch each day. 

When you have your goal in mind, please write it down on your SMART goal worksheet. 

Measuring Your Goal

The next step is to determine how you will track your progress and if you have the proper equipment to do so. 

Using our example goal of increasing vegetable intake, you’ll need vegetables, of course. Easy enough. You’ll also need the essentials to prepare the veggies—knives, pots and pans, bowls, seasoning, recipes. You get where I’m going here. 

To track your progress, you could take a picture of your lunch plate every day and save them to a “lunch food” folder. This folder will allow you to take a quick look to be sure you’re staying on track. Or, you might consider a simple checklist. The method you use is entirely up to you. Just be sure you’re doing it.

Is It Attainable

Consider what it’s going to take to reach the goal you’ve chosen. Be sure to include hard work, consistency, and dedication on your list. 

Every goal should challenge us, or it’s not truly a goal. 

Using our example again, eating vegetables may be difficult for you. Lots of people don’t particularly like them. But knowing they’re an excellent source of nutrition, you’ve decided you’re willing to take the challenge.

However, you’re admittedly not quite up to the task of eating an entire salad yet. That’s okay! Knowing that allows you to adjust your goal accordingly. Say, to one serving of squash.

Perfect! You’ve decided you have set an attainable expectation for yourself.

Relevance 

In our example, eating veggies is a good idea. But what is your ultimate destination? Will adding vegetables to your diet help you get there? 

If your overall goal is to improve your health, then I’d say yes. Adding some greens to your plate will do that. 

However, if the one thing you’d genuinely like to achieve is to remodel your basement, eating a sweet potato doesn’t serve much purpose. Well, other than being good for you. 

Ultimately, you want all your goals to align with your overall objective. 

Time-Bound 

When would you like to achieve your goal? Three months, six months, a year? You must have a deadline. Otherwise, even though you have good intentions, you may never complete the task.  

Setting a date too soon could lead to disappointment. On the contrary, putting it too far in the future might not challenge you, and you may quit. 

Therefore, choose a reasonable target date and mark it on your calendar. You’ll also want to write it on your SMART goal worksheet.

Done!

That’s it! You’ve completed setting your SMART goal. Doesn’t it feel great to have something to strive to accomplish?

Wildly Capable

When you reach your goal, celebrate your accomplishment. Share it with all your friends. Shout it from the rooftops.

Your success will not only encourage you to do more; it can also inspire others to begin their journey. 

So, what are you waiting for? Go bust through your goals!  

And always remember, you’re wildly capable of reaching your goals!

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