Getting Back on Track With Your Goals
So tonight when it was time for me to do my regular workout, I found myself wanting to skip it. I told myself that I will workout tomorrow and that I am not even fat and I don’t really need to work out. As I told myself this and thought about how my goal of fitness has been doing lately and felt sheer horror. I am really getting off track with this!!
It’s so hard to stick with long term goals. It seems really hard especially if you are trying to achieve multiple goals at once. My currrent goals are: weigh 115 pounds, update this blog regularily, save 4,000 dollars by july, and get at least B’s in all my classes. Currently I am doing good with all my goals except Save $4,000 and weigh 115 pounds. To be honest I don’t really need to lose weight since I am 120 pounds and 5′4. But I want to 
.
So I made a checklist for dormant goals that you may have and how to revive them:
1. Do I really want this goal?
Is it worth the time and effort or is it better put towards other pursuits that will enrich your life alot more? An example may be my goal to lose 5 pounds. It’s really only because I want to look good for summer. I am considering dropping it because I have other goals relating to school and other commitments. The easiest way to get something done is to cut it out.
2. Am I willing to sacrifice to achieve this goal?
Anything you want to do requires sacrafice.If I want to save money that means that I will not be able to buy as many cute shoes or do other fun stuff that requires money. Sometimes it seems like people do not think about stuff like this when they set goals.
When I set a goal I think about what I will have to give up to achieve this and weigh out my options. If the goal does not seem worth the sacrafice, then I cut it out.
3. Do you have a plan?
This is an incredibly simple part of setting a goal but it doesn’t seem like enough people do this. They may set a general plan like ‘work out everyday’. However they don’t mention things like how long they are working out, what exercises they are going to do, where they are going to work out, and at what time of day. This seems really obvious but if you look over a goal you may have you will find that you may not have covered all the bases that you need to to achieve something.
4. Do I have any holes in my bucket?
When I set goals I like to use a bucket as a metaphor. When you fill up a bucket with water you want all the water that goes in to stay in. If you have holes in your bucket, it is frustrating because any water you put in will eventually flow out.
With goals you want all the effort that you put in to stay in with the goal. Habits or behaviors that you have may be undoing some of the work that you put in to your goal. These are the holes in your bucket.
I will use my fitness goal as an example again because it is a goal that I have let go in the past few weeks. I try to work out at least every other day. I really do well with this when I don’t work that night at my part time job. However, when I do work I am usually to tired when I get home or are feeling too lazy. I realize now that this is a huge hole in my bucket because I am skipping workouts.I looked over my plan and have decided on days that I work I will workout before I go to work instead of surfing the internet.
It is so easy to get off track with goals, but it is important to realize that you need to keep plugging away, even if you have really messed up recently. Quitting will do you no good and will not make you feel good about yourself at all. I will keep you all updated on how I am doing with my goals.
And by the way, I made myself workout tonight:)