GOAL!!!!!!!!!!

Setting goals is an important aspect of helping you get motivated to improve or maintain your health. In order to have a successful journey you need to know the direction you are heading, which is your goal. It is important to keep a few things in mind when setting goals.

Your brain is wired to be able to concentrate on only one thing at a time, that’s why you shouldn’t text and drive at the same time. You need to keep this in mind when setting your goals. Often times it is easy to think of ten or more things you could improve and try to set goals for all of them. But this unfortunately can often set you up for failure as you get overloaded trying to do so many different things at once. When setting goals it may be best to set just one goal and never more than two or three. When you start out on a journey it requires taking a single step in the right direction, toward just one goal. If you have ten different goals you might find yourself feeling like your playing twister and going in multiple different directions all at once and getting tied up in knots.

The other key to any successful journey is knowing where you are starting from and where you want to go. This is why knowing your numbers such as weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and others is a great starting point. Pick one area that you want to improve such as lower cholesterol. If your starting point is 220 you know that you are in a borderline risk area for high cholesterol, so this might be the one thing you want to improve to get your total cholesterol below 200.

The next step, now that you have a goal, is to realize there may be many paths that get you toward that goal. Improving your exercise routine, eating healthier and decreasing some stress all can help you get toward that goal. It does not mean that you have to do all of them or if you do one for awhile and then stop doesn’t mean that you can’t still achieve your goal. Understanding this helps you select the routes that best match your lifestyle and habits to help you reach your goal. Also you don’t have to feel guilty for switching or changing paths midway through the journey as long as they are leading toward your goal.

So you have your one goal, you know where you are starting from and where you want to get to and understand there can be lots of paths to help get you there. The next thing to do is to set a time frame that is realistic to achieve the goal and monitor your progress periodically during that time frame to make sure you are still headed the right direction.

Finally celebrate during the journey as you make progress toward your goal, and don’t get too hard on yourself if you aren’t reaching your goal. Realize that making these health changes may be some of the hardest things that you have to do and occasionally goals might need to be adjusted as time goes on. Life comes at you hard sometimes and it is okay to reset your goals to help you stay motivated toward the biggest goal of improving your health.