This is the time of year that many of us are setting goals in hopes of achieving success with our New Year Resolutions. And setting realistic goals can be what makes or breaks a good resolution.
Have you set your goals yet?
There are many theories about how to set realistic and achievable goals. But it’s not always as cut and dry as all that. As with everything in life, something that works for one of us may not work for all of us.
Here are some ideas that may help you find success.
Monica Olivas from Run, Eat, Repeat writes about a popular method for setting goals called SMART…
Specific – Check that your 2009 resolutions/goals are clear and understandable to someone else in 1 or 2 sentences.
Measurable – Have a way to verify your success. This will make achieving the goal much more satisfying if you can measure how far you’ve come to hitting it.
Attainable – Make sure that it is a goal you can really accomplish based on your current ability/situation/time/resources.
Realistic – Don’t just pick the biggest mountain to climb just to see how far you can get. You are trying to improve some aspect of your life and you deserve a self pat on the back for it. Make sure your goal is challenging, but not impossible. This has 2 benefits – 1. Achieving your goal and 2. Feeling good about your accomplishment.
Time Sensitive – Give yourself a specific time frame in which to check on this goal and another date when you want it complete.
These are all important and tangible ideas for goal setting, but I think there is one thing missing.
The intangible.
We need to be able to envision ourselves already succeeding in our goals. This is less about being realistic, and more about visualization and manifestation. It’s about believing in ourselves, and believing that anything is possible.
A great example would be Vision Boards – Contributing Editor Debra Roby wrote about them the other day…
Vision boards, on the other hand, seem like an adaptable method of planning the future.
Anne-Marie Faiola, blogging as the Soap Queen describes how her mastermind group has been using vision boards to plan their years:
1. Write your goals down
2. Look for visual representations of your goals in magazines or online
3. Make a collage with the visual representations
4. Put this in a frequently viewed area
5. Extra: put your written goals in the middle, so that the visuals are flowing outward from the actual original ideas.
This is also known as Creative Visualization…
Shakti Gawain, author of “Creative Visualization”, suggests the following:
A treasure map is an actual, physical picture of your desired reality. It is valuable because it forms an especially clear, sharp image which can then attract and focus energy into your goal. It works along the same lines as a blueprint for a building.
You can make a treasure map by drawing or painting it, or by making a collage using pictures and words cut from magazines, books or cards, photographs, drawings, and so on. Don’t worry if you’re not artistically accomplished. Simple, childlike treasure maps are just as effective as great works of art!
Basically the treasure map should show you in your ideal scene, with your goal fully realized.
I have said before that creative visualization appeals to me…that by imaging a possible future we create the psychic room inside us for it to arrive. So I am going to think of mine as not just a treasure map, but a prayer. I want to claim what I want, and ask God to help me get whatever is on there into my life (I’ll add a disclaimer at the bottom….”Either this or something better, for the greatest good of all concerned”.)
When it comes to creating goals, I think it’s best to be some combination of realistic and visionary. Most importantly, it’s about finding what works best for you.
cross-posted at BlogHer’s Good Health-A-Thon
The Great American Smokeout happens every year on the third Thursday in November, and it has been going on each year since 1977. This is a day that smokers all across the country are encouraged to not smoke, or at least cut back on their smoking for one day. Each year millions of smokers participate in the smokeout in the hope that this one step will be the catalyst to their quitting permanently.
