How to set Goals

Welcome.

You must set Goals

Without Goals, your chances of success are infinitesimal

That's harsh, I know.  But this is Advancing to Greater and we're not here to make you feel better, we're sharing the very best information that has been collected, filtered, and distilled down through a decade and a half of daily reading on principles of success.

Without goals, how are you going to know if you've succeeded?

Said another way, how can you hit the target if you don't know where it is?  What it is?
In which direction it is?

There is a ton of research that does, and ongoing research that certainly will, show that those who set goals are much more likely to achieve them.  There is also research that shows that those who are high achievers (who've already "made it") are people who set written goals for themselves and refer to them often.

So, how do you put yourself into this category of those more likely to achieve?

Simple, 

get out some paper...

goals that aren't written down aren't goals, 

With the blank piece of paper out, I find that it is wise to jot down some notes about the goal or goals that I'm about to write out.

Goals should be:

• They should be Specific and they should matter to you
• They should be Measurable - how will you know if you're making progress of if you've achieved your goal
• They should be Attainable or Realistic - not so huge that they seem impossible.
• They should be Relevant or Rewarding to you.
• They should be Time-bound or Trackable.

People often use this "SMART" mnemonic to help them think about their goals, but there are few other notes to keep in mind before you write out your goal in its best form...

It is important to use positive wording - for example, if you were making a goal about your healthy food choices, you should avoid saying "Don't eat junk food."  Instead, you'd want to word it "Make healthy food choices" or "when I'm hungry, I will eat foods that are in accord with my diet plan."

Words like "don't" and "never" and "no" and "not" have their place, yes, but they set a negative, limiting tone.  I find that with careful wording, you can use positive word choices that set a more uplifting, agreeable, hopeful tone in your goals.

Goals should be few, I have found.  

Ben Franklin identified all the things about himself that he wanted to improve upon and set about tracking them all, but he found he made no progress.  

He did figure out though, that when he limited his focus to a few things that he really wanted to change - he was able to do accomplish his goals, set new habits, and then move on to the next set of things he wanted to improve about himself.
Winners Focus, Losers Spray

Goals need to be reviewed frequently.  Once you've written them out, set out a schedule for tracking your progress and reviewing your goals, updating and changing them as necessary.

Now, it is time to start writing your first draft of your first goal - this is going to take some time and some re-writing, but it is not hard.  Let's begin.

One goal per page.

The first line of your goal is going to be your positively-worded "TO" statement.  For example:

• To reduce my bodyfat percentage from 25% to 23%

This statement is specific, measureable, attainable/realistic, relevant/rewarding and positively worded.


Next, we add the time-bound/tracking to it on the next line by writing when we want to achieve it, starting with the word "By"

• By July 15, 2017.

Next, the best thing that we can do is map out how we plan to make this goal happen, line by line, starting with the phrase "I will accomplish this by"

• Exercising 5 times per week where I either elevate my pulse into the "fat burn zone" as indicated by my FitBit and keep it elevated there for 45 minutes, or by accomplishing one High Intensity Interval Training workout as led by Lisa Marie from Bodyrock.tv 
• When I shop for groceries, I will buy only healthy foods to stock my refrigerator and pantry.
• When I am hungry, I will eat only those foods which are specifically allowed by the diet plan I have chosen to follow while I accomplish this goal,  "Eat to Live" diet from the book, Eat to Live, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.
• Logging my weight and bodyfat percentage into my FitBit app every four days, starting today, May 16, 2017.

Remember that this is your first draft - you can add a bunch of items to your plan of how you will accomplish your goal.  You can also revise this later as you work on other parts of this goal, or after you have been working on actually accomplishing your goal - maybe you notice that you forgot something and need to edit your goal.  That's cool.

The next step is confronting the challenges that you will face and overcome as you achieve this goal.  We put these expected challenges into our written goal so that we think about them and plan for them now, before we have to "make a decision on the fly" which might prove unnecessarily challenging.

Start by writing out "Challenges I expect to face and how I will overcome them are:"

• Unexpected hunger or cravings while I'm at work where the only options are unhealthy snacks in the vending machine in the hall.
• I will overcome this challenge by bringing into work a couple different healthy snack options which I will keep in my drawer so that I do not have to think about the vending machine in the hall.
• Tiredness when I get done with a long day at work and don't feel like leaving my house after I've just gotten home from a tiring day at work and I would rather not go to the gym.
• I will overcome this challenge by waking up earlier so that I go to the gym first thing in the morning, and then going to work after that.  Or:
• I will pack my gym bag the night before and put it in my car, so that I have everything I need with me at work.  I will then drive straight from work to my gym so that I get my workout in!

These are just examples, and you can write out as many challenges and solutions as you can foresee.  Keep going until it feels "right."  Then consider revising your first draft of your first goal which you have done in the best way possible.  There are often some wording changes or spelling mistakes that you will catch and choose to correct.  Making your goal more "perfect" will make you prouder of it, and therefore, in my experience, you will work harder to achieve it.

That's it.  You've done it.

You've written out your first goal in the best way possible.  You are advancing to greater!

The next step is where the rubber meets the road though - now you must have the self-discipline to put your goal into action and actually start working on it, start working to achieve it!

Perseverance is the final element.  It is what will separate the achievers from the quitters.  Perseverance is the single most important element.  Get after it.

You set a good goal, and you created a great plan to achieve it.  

Now, stop thinking about the goal and work the plan!