Speaking and writing about all things mental health, as they apply to wholistic health, is one of my favorite areas of discussion. Time Management, budget, careers, goal-setting, your purpose in life – as a person who thrives in being organized, these things truly excite me when they are applied effectively!
To me there is no better time than now to focus on goals for the coming year.If you don’t set goals, and I’ve come to learn that not everyone does (I’m so naïve some time!), then how do you know where you are going and when you’ve arrived?
Years ago, when I went through the John Maxwell Certification program, I remember John saying that every Thanksgiving he would set aside time to start mapping out the coming year. I think this is a great time to do that. One certainly doesn’t want to wait until December 31 to plan for the coming months and year, it almost certainly would be playing catch up by that point. Since then, I have tried to follow suit. In fact, when I was in chiropractic school is when I first really started being disciplined with my planning and goal-setting. Our semesters were on the quarterly calendar, which was perfect timing for me to write down, implement and achieve shorter term goals. I would like to share with you a way to set up your goals. But first…
What Are, and Why Have, Goals?
As I’ve already stated, how do you know where you are going in life if you don’t have goals? And even more so, how do you know when you’ve arrived? Goals really are simply a way to accomplish the “I wants” and the “I wishes.” Or a better way of putting it, as I always say “there is a difference between a desire to doing something and a commitment.” Goals are a way to make a commitment to yourself and possibly others. If we don’t have goals – whether large or small – in life we really are allowing life to just happen to us. If we don’t have goals, we may very well arrive at the end of our life here on earth and look back and ask ourselves “what have I really accomplished in life? Has my life really mattered to anyone? What will I be remembered for?” As the old saying goes – what will the “dash” between the date of your birth and the date of your death on your headstone consist of? What’s your life story?
You see we are not put here on this earth for ourselves, but to fulfill God’s purpose. In fact, goals really go hand in hand with our purpose in life (which we will address in a couple of weeks). But how do you fulfill your purpose without a vision, goals, and action steps behind them?
When some folks hear the word “goal” they automatically think of some big, huge, hard to reach, almost impossible accomplishment. And that’s not true at all. Simply stating what you would like to accomplish by the end of any given week and having an action plan behind it to fulfill that task is a goal. Maybe you are a sales rep and you want to have at least one appointment scheduled by the end of the week. That’s a goal. Maybe you are a mom who feels like you are burning the candle at both ends and something has got to give or you will explode. A goal could be simply taking one hour out of the week just for you – even if that time is to just sit in your prayer closet and take a nap! Goals don’t have to be huge accomplishments – even baby steps, one goal at a time is a reason to celebrate. At least you have taken charge of your destiny, no matter how small, and you are moving forward in the right direction.
Where to Start
So where do you start?
First of all, goals need to be written down. This is one must do. It’s imperative.This is your written agreement with yourself. These goals are for no one else but you. You are important, your needs are important, your purpose is important – write – it – down.
Next, your goal needs to be what is known as a “S.M.A.R.T.” goal. It stands for:
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relative, and Timely. I personally have found that the piece that is most basic, and yet important, is the one that seems to get overlooked when people first start out to set goals, and that is “timely.” When do you want to accomplish or even start your goal by?
Here is an example of a S.M.A.R.T. goal:
GOAL: Today is November 1st and I want to lose 10 lbs. by December 31, 2024.
- It’s specific – lose weight;
- It’s measurable – 10 lbs.,
- It’s attainable – it’s not impossible to lose weight
- It’s realistic – I have two months to lose 10 lbs.
- It’s timely – December 31st is my by date.
Now if I set this goal on December 30th, it obviously is not very realistic. Or if I don’t say how much weight, but just that I want to lose weight, I have nothing to measure to see if I’m accomplished anything. Or if I have two months and I say I want to lose 100 pounds, that is not very attainable. I would simply be setting myself up for failure if anyone of these were not applied properly.
Once you have your goal written down, the next thing you need to do is write out your action steps – how are you going to get there? Using the weight loss example, some of your action steps might be:
- Action Steps (and you might want to add a “by” date for each of these too):
- Throw away all processed foods in the house
- Go for a power walk 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes
- Get 7-9 hours of solid sleep a night
- Eat nothing but real food until I’ve lost 10 pounds.
I always say no action step is too small – “put running shoes on” – if that’s what it takes to motivate you out the door or to the gym, then don’t hesitate to add it to your action steps. It’s just as much psychological as it is physical. If one baby step accomplishment motivates you to take the next step, and the next step, then write it down and do it!
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Implementation
Now that you have determined your goal and the action steps to achieve that goal, it’s time to put it into action!
1.Determine where you need to display your goal and action steps that you will be routinely reminded of what you have committed to. Continuing with our weight loss example – perhaps you place your written goals and action steps on your bathroom mirror, your clothes closet door, your refrigerator, that notepad you make your grocery list on – wherever your eyes are routinely laid each day.
2.Write your action steps on your calendar, your to-do list, set as a reminder on your phone – wherever you write any other important reminders and appointments. Your action steps are daily or weekly appointments with yourself – write them down! It is so easy to forget what you have committed to if it is not in front of you regularly. Just like anything else new, it takes a little time and intentionality to get into this new routine and commitment to yourself.
3.Record your progress (or even setbacks – it’s okay!). I like to use an excel spreadsheet format, but you can use a notebook that is especially for the purpose of tracking your goals and action steps. Maybe you carry this notebook around with you wherever you go – like a little news reporter! Right now, for health challenges I have been faced with I record the following:
- How well and how many hours did I sleep?
- Blood pressure
- Weight
- Bowel movements (70% of our immune system is in the digestive system)
- What I had for breakfast, lunch, dinner
- How many total calories did I consume for the day
- What snacks did I have
- Did I exercise? What type, how far, how long?
- How much water did I drink? (the only way the toxins come out of our body is via water)
- Any specific notes for the day – how did I feel, what barriers got in the way, etc.
4.Make a spreadsheet that helps you track your progress, whatever that might look like. This makes for a nice visual map of where you are headed and can serve for a great motivator as well.
5.Celebrate your wins – no matter how small they may feel to you.We typically are our own worst critic and expect perfection out of ourselves, so it is important to celebrate your wins, step by step. And along the lines of perfection: a goal is just something to aim for. You might find that you had reached your goal much easier or much quicker than you expected – next time stretch yourself a little more. Or, you may find that you fell far short of your goal, even though you followed all of your action steps to a “T.” That’s okay too! You just tweak that goal, or those action steps until it becomes achievable. Whatever you do, don’t quit!
How Many Goals Should I Have?
When I first started setting goals in chiropractic school, I chose to set 2-3 smaller goals in each of the four quadrants of the health pie: Mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. Perhaps a mental health goal was to simply pass that particular quarters classes with at least a grade of “C” or better. An emotional goal might have been to make it a point to call at least one close friend a month to cultivate my personal relationships. A physical goal may have been to jog 3 times a week. And a spiritual goal might have been to read one chapter a day out of the Bible. And then I would write out the action steps for each of these.
But I have found with some people, especially for those who goal setting is foreign to them, to have more than one or two goals to focus on is more than enough. I would say whatever works for you. The main thing is to just start.
Short Range and Long-Range Goals
Now that you have an understanding of the basics of goals and goal-setting, you can turn your short range goals into action steps for your long range goals!They become the building blocks for your one year, three year and even five year goals.
I typically work backwards starting with my one year goals and break it down into quarterly goals. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time right? I first sit and visualize, and for those of you who are believers in Jesus Christ, sit and spend time with Him, asking Him to show you what He is calling you to do over the coming year. What does He know you can accomplish for Him? I write those things down – again typically in the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual areas. Then I take each of those goals and make action steps for them, broken down into each quarter of the year. Let’s take a goal I had this year to finish hiking the Appalachian Trail.
I had to first connect with my other hiking partners to pin down a definite date that we would be hiking. We agreed on some dates in August. That put the “by date” in the 3rd Quarter of this year. My action steps then needed to occur in the 1st, 2nd and beginning of the 3rd Quarters of this year. I knew I needed to start condition training for this no later than the beginning of the 2nd Quarter. So that became a 2nd Quarter Goal: “start training for backpacking the Appalachian Trail by April 1 through July 30th.” And then I had action steps under that as to how I was going to do the training. Because I had this written down, and I had a clear vision of what I wanted to accomplish and how I was going to do it, and a time frame to do it in, I completed the Appalachian Trail. And in reality, this was really a longer-range goal, as in a 3 year goal, with the hopes of completing the Trail by the time I was 65, and I did.
In Summary
Goals are not something to dread and certainly are not something to disregard as only beneficial for those in the corporate world, or leadership positions, or business owners. Goals are simply a tool that should be utilized by all of us. In fact, they can be fun and exciting – even empowering!
So, I invite you, over the next month or so, to be intentional about setting aside an hour or two and give thought to the coming year. Quiet yourself down, picture yourself with Jesus or Papa God, and ask Him about the direction He wants to lead you. Ask Him to show you. Where do you see yourself 365 days from now? Are you working at the same place? Would you like to move into a new position? Maybe you are moving into the retirement years. What will that look like? How will you spend your new gift of time? What direction do you desire to lead your children, or even grandchildren? Maybe you would like to make improvement to your physical health. What is it?
Once you write these desires down, turn them into a commitment by making them a goal, and then write your action steps down – how are you going to get there? And remember the “by date.” Start off small, short range. You just might be surprised to see what happens when you do!
Each and every one of us has a unique, divine purpose and reason for being here on this earth. Once you know what the purpose is, you need to map out your course as to how you are going to get there. Once you have arrived at a certain point in life, if you are still here on this earth, then move onto the next point in the next phase of life and set more goals and more action steps, until you have ultimately arrived at your eternal home with the anticipation of hearing “well done good and faithful servant.”
Do you like to get a jump on your Christmas shopping? How about gifting that special someone who wants to learn more about their health with a copy of “Are You Being Deceived About Truth Wellness?” “Are You Being Deceived About Truth Wellness?”
Here are the other blogs in this series:
“How Committed Are You to Your Wholistic Health?”
“You Were Made for a Purpose”
“How Do You Know When You Get There?”