Goal Setting for Success

“Lose 100 lbs by the end of the year”

I’ve set this goal time and time again, knowing I need to lose more than 100 lbs (more like 200 lbs) but at least 100 lbs would be a significant start. I’ve lost 10 lbs in a month before, in theory, if I can do that 12 times in a row, that’s 120 pounds lost in one year! No wonder I kept failing.

It’s easy to see the big picture, where you want to go, where you should be however setting the path on how you’re going to get there is another story. Poor goal setting has been one reason why I have failed time and time again to lose weight and make a positive change in my life. I was constantly setting myself up for failure, wishing I could do something that I didn’t know how to do and not giving myself the room to do it. So where do I start?

DAY DREAM

Step 1: What are your dreams?

Everyone has things they want to accomplish in life. Take some time to think about what you want for yourself with no restrictions. In a perfect world, what would your life look like? Make a list of your dreams, no matter how unattainable they may seem at this time. You may not be able to be able to get close to achieving your dreams today, or even this year, but realizing them is your first step to working towards them. My dream has always been to start a family of my own but I have always felt like my health was holding me back from accomplishing my dreams.

Step 2: One Year Goal

From your list of your dreams, let’s pick one dream that you can focus this year on. You don’t need to achieve your dreams within the next year but you can plan to make significant progress towards them. The way I picked my one year goal was pretty sad. It came from a place of failure and desperation to see change. Any time I set a “I will lose X pounds by X year,” it never happened. This time I took a different approach. My one year goal? “Lose weight.” Anything, no matter how little. Any progress would be considered as achieving my goal because let’s face it, I only ever put on the pounds anyways so going in the opposite direction, no matter how insignificant, would be a win in my very, very sad book.

Narrow down your efforts

Step 3a: What can you do in the next 3 months?

Now we’re starting to find focus and we can really dig into what actions we’re going to take to accomplish this goal. This is where you want to look at your one year goal and think of what 3 things that you can do immediately within the next 3 months to start your path towards your long term goals. They don’t need to be ground breaking achievements and can be as granular as you need them to be. My first 3 month goals were:

cut down on processed sugars
drink more water
eat whole foods

Pretty simple right? These seem easy to accomplish but in practice, it actually takes a lot of discipline and focus to accomplish this at the start. You’re trying to build habits that you can stick with for the rest of your life that will eventually add up over time to help you accomplish your dreams. Forming small new habits over time is how you’re going to see success in the long run.

Step 3b: Action Items

Now you have your three 3-month goals decided, let’s write down 3-5 ways in which we can accomplish these goals. These are ideas that you can brainstorm to help you form these habits. Think of ways to make these habits easier for you to accomplish, or ways in which you can make bad habits more difficult for you to fall into. To cut down on processed sugar, I listed off a couple of things:

No more soft drinks
Drink sparkling water
Drink lemon water
Find 0 calorie drink mixes
No more sugar in my coffee
Switch to 0 calorie Skinny Syrup for sweetner in my coffee

To drink more water, I decided to:

Track water daily
Find a journal that I will open every day to track this habit
Drink water before each meal
Drink water first thing in the morning before eating

Then to eat more whole foods, I decided to:

No more fast food
Cook at home
Look up recipes online.
Find ways to sneak more vegetables into my food.
Try Hello Fresh to learn some new foods or cooking techniques

Step 4: Weekly Focus Goals

Come Monday morning, how do you make sure you’re on track for accomplish all of these goals that you’ve setup? It’s easy to dream up a plan but following through with it is the hardest part. Every week, you’re going to be working towards your action items to help you achieve your 3 month goals. Every week, pick one to focus on, or decide on a challenge that will help you to achieve them.

It can be hard to fire on all cylinders all the time. Although perfection would be ideal, you live in reality where things don’t always go to plan so focusing in on one action item for one week is an easy way to make progress without feeling overwhelmed.

I decided to first focus on tracking my water in a journal. Some weeks, I did great with this and felt like I finally automated this habit and I could move onto another weekly focus, such as finding recipes to satisfy my sweet cravings that had 0 processed sugar. Think of these weekly focus goals like a mini challenge to keep you on track, always thinking about how you’re going to make progress every day just for that week. There is no pressure to accomplish them because if you fail, which you probably will, next week you get to try again. Your weekly focus should be something that you know without a doubt, you can accomplish that week. It’s only for a week. Then next week, you can switch gears and work on something new if you feel like it, or you can stick with the same focus if you feel you could do better. These are meant to be stress-free, fun challenges that feel good to accomplish.

At the end of the week, set aside some time to evaluate how you did towards your weekly focus. Did you forget about it? How can you make sure it’s on the top of your mind next week? Was it too difficult for you? How can you make it easier for yourself? Was it too easy? Can you do it again for another week? Challenge yourself, always.

Having some structure to help you pick your goal for the year and a plan on how to get there, makes it pretty clear how you’re going to accomplish your goals. You’re setting yourself up for success rather than blindly setting a goal and having no where to go from there. This process has helped me accomplish my goals and stay focused on what I can do today, to make a better tomorrow for myself.

My Beautiful Life