Rescue your resolutions
Six steps to resuscitating your goals
Here’s a simple step that you can take to get your goals back on track if you’ve found that they’ve been slipping recently.
1. Start over. Get up. Continue.
People find that being “allowed” to start over is an amazing concept that saves them a lot of stress and heartache. But they want guidance, a strategy for how to restart.
2. Get clear on why you’re here
Get clear on what you want, when you want it by and exactly why you want it. Most of the time we drop our goals because we forget one of these vital ingredients and the excitement, passion and purpose that give us the power to pursue them evaporates.
To counter this, sit down with a pen and a piece of paper and write down your goals again along with the timeline for their completion. Once you have this on paper ask yourself why you want them.
Finally, close your eyes and imagine having achieved the goal. What will it feel like? What will it look like? Again, try to imagine achieving your goal in as much detail as possible and then write down on the paper what you “see.”
3. Stretch yourself
Once your goals are written down, go back over the list and ask yourself, “Am I playing safe? Are my goals too small?”
Setting goals that are smaller than your true desire is a mistake as they will lack the power to attract you into taking the action required to bring them to life. The truth is, we’ll work hard for what we really want but will give up on goals in no time flat if they don’t motivate and inspire us.
4. Make yourself accountable
Many people keep their goals a secret. They write a list, keep it in their pocket and rarely, if ever, share it with anyone. Big mistake.
When you share a goal you make it real. When you announce it to others, you not only gain a support structure which, in itself, is a good thing, but you also announce to your subconscious mind that the goal is important.
If you keep your goals a secret, you not only have an easy get-out-of-jail-free-card but your subconscious mind will believe the goal is unimportant too.
5. Surround yourself with like-minded people
The Internet is a wonderful thing when you use it right.
There are thousands just like you, struggling to bring their goals to life and who, just like you, could really use some support. They can be found in blogs, communities and forums dedicated to self-growth and goal achievement.
Don’t be shy. Don’t think that it’s beneath you to share your dreams with strangers. A forum full of strangers who support you is 100,000 times more powerful than a room full of people who don’t.
6. Don’t stop!
Once you’ve set your sights on your goal, do not stop. Slow down at times if you must, but don’t stop. Take an action every single day toward achieving your goals, no matter how small.
We all know that “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” but you only finish the journey if you keep on taking those single steps. A single step every day, no matter how small, will eventually and inexorably bring you to your goal.
Joe Thiel is owner, with his wife, Jill, of Fitness Together, a personal training studio at 4481 Ash Grove in Springfield. He regularly writes a free fitness newsletter. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.org.