Review, Revise, & Reach Your Goals

  
Seeing as we’re already several weeks into the New Year and its ‘resolutions’, I decided to blog about goals and why people fail to accomplish them.
 
   How many times have you (or someone you know) said that you are going to lose 50 or more pounds, exercise for an hour everyday, or cut out all processed foods and sugar, only to give up a few weeks, or even a few days later? I know these goals are made with the best intentions (the motivation to go out and do something grand), but they lack planning, i.e., a sequence of steps necessary to reach the goal. Without a plan, it is inevitable that you will stumble and fail.
To be honest, I don’t like the idea of making a New Year’s resolution. Many of us see the New Year as an opportunity to begin with a clean slate. I’ve come to see it as a day people use to prolong living a life that they deep down want to change. 
 
 According to studies, more than 80% of people who make New Year’s resolutions give them up by Jan 20^th. Maybe some of you reading this now are part of that 80% and have already fallen back into your old habits. If so, I want you to do the following before you read on:
  1) Take a deep breathe, exhale slowly.
  2) Accept that shit happens.
  3) Tell yourself you will try again today.
   No one ever said that achieving goals is easy. That being said, if you have the right mindset and determination, any goal is attainable. Simply saying that you will change your ways isn’t enough; you need a well thought out plan. The following tips can help you get started:

Don’t Procrastinate: When you decide that you want to make a change in your life, you have to commit yourself to it immediately. Not tomorrow, not next week, right now. Putting off your goal just sets you up for failure. It’s like putting off household chores; the longer you leave it, the more you’ll dread doing it.

Make Short Term Goals:  Imagine that your goal is to lose 50 pounds. The best way to reach this goal is to setup a series of milestones. For instance, maybe you could lose 5 pounds a month for 10 months. This approach can help you attain your ultimate goal because you’ve given yourself short-term objectives. Losing 5 pounds over a month not only provides a realistic time frame for your ultimate goal, but also makes it seem more possible (and a whole lot less stressful).

Be Specific: When setting a goal, don’t be vague with the details. Consider asking yourself the following questions: What do I really want to achieve?  Why do I want to accomplish this goal in the first place?  Given my other life circumstances, how can I accommodate my daily routine to achieve this goal?  The more detailed your goals are, the easier it will be to achieve them.

See Your Success: Create a chart that outlines your short-term goals. Use this to track your progress. As you reach certain milestones, check them off as having been completed. Not only will you feel good crossing out each goal as you complete it, but you’ll become more motivated as you approach your ultimate goal.

Accepting Fall Backs:  There will always be bumps along the way, so you might as well learn to embrace them and find a way to use them to your advantage. Setbacks can fuel your motivation just as much as success can. Try to view them as a learning experience, and if you can, take comfort in the determination that you won’t let them happen again.

Reward Yourself: Setting goals to improve your life is important, but don’t forget to reward yourself once you’ve attained them. Remember that there are no small accomplishments, just accomplishments. Reaching a milestone that you have set for yourself is an achievement, and achievements deserve rewards. However, the reward you give yourself should never be something that sets you back. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, don’t reward yourself with unhealthy food!

"A goal without a plan is just a wish" - Antoine de Saint-Exuperys

 

 Manage Stress the Healthy Way

We all deal with stress - the unrelenting circus of ups and downs throughout our lives. And whether your stress stems from bill payments that almost put you into cardiac arrest, the deadline due tomorrow that you won’t finish unless you discover time travel, or a fight you had with your significant other (whom you’re currently giving the silent treatment to) - We all have stress, and we all have different ways of coping with it.

Some people max out credit cards, some drink well before five o’clock, some eat anything and everything, and then there are the scary ones who bottle it in (tic, toc, tic, toc). But you can only buy so many things; drink so many cocktails, eat so many chips, and bottle in so much. Those methods will only create more stress in the long run. If you're reading this thinking "This is how I handle stress" - Then maybe the next time you are stressed out, try one of the following methods instead, because not only are they proven to help alleviate stress, but they also won’t come back to bite you in the ass.

Get Some Fresh Air

I find it amazing how much sitting down for several hours can negatively effect my mind. Not only will my focus and drive dwindle to nothing, but I also start feeling anxious and irritable. I know myself well enough to know that when I start feeling antsy I need to get up and move around, or else I’ll slowly become a stressed out you know what. Giving your eyes a break from those florescent lights and your blood circulating properly by going for even just a 15-20 minute walk can do wonders for your mood and clarity.


Work Out
When you’re stressed, working up a sweat is probably the last thing you want to do.  I know when I’m stressed it feels like I have to literally drag my feet along with the rest of my body to go workout, but I do it because I know I’ll feel a million times better when I’m done. Exercise is a known stress reliever because it helps lower stress hormones like cortisol, while boosting the body's ‘feel-good’ chemicals like endorphins. Try to find it in you to lace up those sneakers and force yourself to workout because the feeling you’ll have when your finished is worth the mental battle to start.

Write About It
Before some of you knock this idea - Studies show that writing out your thoughts is very therapeutic. It’s been proven to help slow down your mind and give you some clarity. And even if you’re not the type to sit down and write your feelings and the very thought of it makes you feel awkward, I still say it’s worth a shot. Feeling mildly uncomfortable for five minutes to gain some insight is better then enduring a sleepless night followed by a side of anxiety with your morning coffee.

                                                                            Get More Sleep
 Sleep is one of the most effective ways to ward off stress, and ironically enough - lack of sleep is also one of the biggest causes in creating stress - It can be quite a vicious circle! To help the sleeping process along, try and do things like cutting off your caffeine intake no later then 5pm, put your phone on silent, or unplug your alarm clock and use your cell phone alarm instead, that way you can't be distracted watching the time. Another option is doing breathing exercises to calm your mind. One common breathing exercise is: for about 5 minutes try to imagine a stress ball in front of you and continue staring at “it” as you breathe in and breathe out. Try not to let your mind wander anywhere else, just concentrate on the ball. Seems silly, but it’s known to be highly effective and let’s face it, if you’re already low on Zzz’s, what have you got to lose?