Goals fail mostly because we tend to make a high-level statement, without the understanding of what we have to do or how we are going to do it. We fail to put a plan in place.
- Goal: lose weight (high level statement)
- Goal: become rich (high level statement)
Creating a plan will help us to realise a few things. A plan will establish your Why, Your What and your How. As you progress through your weight loss or any other journey, each of these areas will be refined and redefined.
| Why do I want (to lose weight) | What do I need to do to (lose weight) | How am I going to do to (get to my desired weight) …. |
| I want to lose weight because my doctor told me if I didn’t it would start to impact my health. I am always tired; my sleep is poor, and I don’t want to be in poor health when I am older. | I need to limit take away, sweet highly processed foods.
I need to get to bed earlier, I need to eat more green leafy vegetables, I need to eat more servings of protein and I need to move more. |
This week I will only buy take away on Friday night.
I will have a green smoothy every day as a way to get more vegetables. I will go for a 30-minute walk after dinner. I will set an alarm for 9:00pm to get ready for bed.
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Taking into consideration your current lifestyle while you are working on your plan it’s essential. You need to be realistic. There are very few people in the world who can go from a ‘Homer Simpson’ lifestyle to a ‘David Goggins’ lifestyle in a week. Making small changes, that we can do is much better than taking on big obstacles that daunt us, and well just set us up for failure. Taking on a change that we can do is key to the likelihood of you sticking to your plan and ultimately achieving your goal.
In the past when we have not been able to achieve the goals our subconscious is wired to recall the feeling of disappointment or failure. By taking on one small achievable change we are able to rewire our subconscious to learn the feeling of achievement and fulfilment. The small wins are huge in this process.
There is one commodity we are all given the same amount of, and that is time. However, we are not all given the same circumstances or mindset. These will influence the amount of time that it will take you to achieve your goal.
An example could be two people, same age same gender, both want to be healthy. One is single, lives in a large city, the other is married, with a young child and lives in a small town.
The single person is likely to have more time to make the effort and have the desire to eat well, exercise, learn to give up a few things short term to live the way they want to long term. They might achieve their healthier life in say 1 – 3 years.
The married person is likely to have commitments to their family and make time for them, contribute to the house, and will probably have to consult with their spouse about making changes. Hopefully their spouse is on board and wants to do the journey together. It’s likely that their journey might take a little longer, but they can still achieve it.
So, work with what you can do, slowly build in new behaviours and habits, work with your life, not against it, build in the small wins and bank them. Feel proud of all of your achievements, however small and humble and I am sure that you will be much more successful at reaching your goals.
RECAP
- Define your why.
- Write down some things you know you can do.
- Write down how you are going to do them.
- Pick the thing(s) you know that you can do and stick to them.
- Be realistic, know that it might take longer than you want, but it will be worth it long term.
Need help – contact me and I will coach you along this process.
Karen Stuart, The Healthier Life Coach