Goals: The Do’s and Don’ts

I’m starting the first follow up to “Is the 5 a.m. Club for You” with Goals because I believe this is your roadmap for your processes at becoming a better you. Just like taking a road trip, you can’t get to your destination without a map to get there. You can’t prepare for your trip without some planning and preparation.

For years I was that person who bought this big elaborate planner, a stack of stickers with little icons for different types of appointments, and 30 different colored pens to code different events and tasks. Guess what, I started off hot and heavy, putting in birthdays and other events that were already confirmed. I started planning out my weeks ahead of time. I did this for a few weeks and then all of a sudden that planner started to gather dust on my nightstand, on the coffee table, or wherever I last used it. I have now come to realize, I didn’t set myself up for success. I hadn’t started off with the two of the most important tasks. I hadn’t defined my goals, and I hadn’t committed to using my roadmap. My $50+ investment in getting organized sat unused until the dates on the calendar ran out and I scolded myself, yet again, for not following through.

What I should have done first, was not writing in orange ink all the birthdays for the year. It wasn’t even going out and buying the planner and the cute stickers and multi-colored pens. The first thing I needed to do, and you need to do is, sit down and figure out what your Goals are. Some people think, oh the goals are easy to come up with, I can do those in a few minutes. Those people and right and wrong. Goal creation is easy, it’s the planning and prioritizing that takes time to map out. You have to be committed to the process to achieve your goals.

Let’s take weight loss as an example. I can put on my goal list “I want to lose 20 pounds,” and leave it at that. I can post that goal on the bathroom mirror, have it written in the number one spot on my goal list, but writing it down, setting a date, planning how to do it, and committing to it MUST be part of losing that 20 pounds. Don’t think for one second that because you wrote down “lose 20 pounds” that is is magically going to happen. AND, don’t be unreasonable. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds in a week, you will probably not achieve the goal, and if you do, I’d put money on it that you will not keep it off.

My first step is to write down each of my Goals by timeframe. My list is in my planner and is separated out by One Year, Three Months, Six Months, and Five Years. You can separate your list however you like, but you should have both short term and long term goals on your list.

Once you have decided on your goals now it’s time to break down each goal into what actions you will need to take to reach that goal. Let’s go back to the 20 pound weight loss goal. You have decided 3 months is a reasonable timeframe. What other actions will you have to take to make it to your goal? Those actions might look something like this:

• 1. Go to the gym for one hour, three times a week.
• 2. Pack a healthy lunch to take to work every day.
• 3. Meal plan a week in advance for lunch and dinner.
• 4. Replace soda with water.

Here’s where I get out my planner and you should too. Put on the calendar what three days you will go to the gym. This will prevent you from making excuses at the end of the week because you still need to get your three days in but you have plans the next three nights.

Meal planning takes a little more effort in my opinion. Pinterest has been my friend for meal planning. Eating a low carb diet was quickly becoming the same type of food day in and day out. I have found some low carb recipes on Pinterest, which has saved me from just buying Oreos and ice cream and throwing in the towel. Figure out what you will prepare for each meal and make a shopping list for all the ingredients. Plan what day you will shop. Put it on your calendar. If you are preparing your meals for the week, decide which day you will do that. Put it on your calendar.

I use a simple tracker for different tasks. Tracking water versus soda is easy to do on a tracker. This way you can visually see how may times you made the choice to replace that soda with water. At the end of the week you can review your improvements

So, here it is in a nutshell:

• 1. Decided what you goal is.
• 2. Set a timeframe.
• 3. Break your goal down into actionable tasks.
• 4. Commit to those tasks and put them on your calendar.
• 5. Track your progress and review it weekly.
• 6. Adjust when needed.

Pretty Simple. What dream do you have that you can translate into Goals and Actions?

---

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
― Karen Lamb