Two months into the New Year - And I'm still fat!
By the end of February resolutions have already drifted from
our minds. We’ve joined gyms, signed up for diet programs, started the latest
fad diet, with no noticeable results. Or, just as bad, took off a fast ten or
fifteen pounds only to gain it all back in a week or two after giving up.
What happened to our fresh resolutions?
A
resolution, from the word resolve, is defined as firm determination and sounds
way too much like restriction.
How
about goals? Unlike a resolution, a goal is a something positive that we want
to achieve, not a restriction. Positive is good.
The
holidays, along with all the food temptations that come with them, have been
over for weeks. It’s time to resume normal eating. Normal? Normal might be
defined differently for each of us. For me, there is no “normal”. I’m either
closely watching my caloric intake, or overeating, seldom anything in between.
It is time
to dust off those New Year’s resolutions and turn them into manageable goals. A
goal can be as simple as a mental picture of something you want to accomplish
or can be a formal outline for a goal’s accomplishment. The most important
thing is to choose goals you are excited about achieving in order to motivate
you to complete them.
Some goal guidelines:
1. Write
them down. Give them the added formality of typing them and printing them out.
You might want to have a separate list for your goals for the week, month, and
year. Anthony Robbins advocates a five-year plan—think about what you’d like
your life to look like in five years—it’s an eye opener!
2. Have your goal sheet somewhere you will see it
every day. I keep a set of weekly goals on an index card next to my computer.
3. Don’t try to do too many goals at once. Pick
two or three, or even only one if it is something important to you.
4. The more difficult the goal, the more
necessary it is to have a list of action steps you will do in order to achieve
it. Divide the steps into long and short-term solutions.
5. Procrastination can be overwhelming, thus
emphasizing the need to have increments toward the achievement of your goal.
Begin with that baby step—but begin!
Many
years ago, I was stuck in a job I found unfulfilling and I made a goal for the year to change my career path by taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement plan my benefit package
offered. I wanted to go back to school for my Master’s degree, a huge task
that involved a lot of work just to get started. I took an immediate first step
and contacted a university for information about the programs. It was a small
step, but the catalogue they sent made the goal real and feel more attainable.
I
began classes that spring and graduated three years later.
Make
that first step a small one and make it today. You’ll be surprised how it
inspires you to keep going.
Dear Readers,
An
accomplished goal does not happen by throwing a coin into a fountain and making
a wish. If you tucked those resolutions you wrote on New Year’s Day into the
pile of detritus on the top of your desk, that’s most likely where they‘ll
stay—buried.
Whatever
your goal, keep it in sight and take a first step toward its completion. What
you focus on becomes more and more real to you.
I
wish all of you a healthy and amazing new year!
