A Goal in One
And so we welcome 2022 with minds full of ideas, hearts full of love, and moleskins or evernotes full of goals. Lemme' guess; This is the year you will lose 3500 pounds, write the American novel, declutter every home in your city beginning with your sister's, but finally yours', start your own business and do it all within the next 364 days (you also plan to take off work on Christmas Day and celebrate your anniversary in Jamaica). You get down with your ambitious self!
Do you ever wonder why the gyms are full on January 2, but back to normal by the first week of February? Why do so many fine people set lofty goals in January, however, by the end of the quarter they have tossed their newly bought antique typewriter into the trash, doused their entrepreneurial spirit with negative waters from the gods of pessimism and bartered their 24/7 gym membership for an account at Netflix and 3 bags of family sized Flaming Hot Cheetos (don't fire up the angry rhetoric just yet. I'm not hatin' on the Flaming Hot Cheetos, for rare is the day that I do not at some point daydream of downing a fresh bag of Flaming Hots with an ice-cold IBC Root Beer while screening some old school Bond)
"How," you ask, "How then may I avoid being a part of that crowd and actually cross the finish line on my goals?" I'm simply delighted that you asked. Let's approach this with a military mindset, shall we? Take a sober gander at your list of resolutions for this year, and boil it down to one Goal. Just one. A Futebol player does not merely say, "I wish I could make a goal today". That player has a fierce and detailed plan, a deadline for that action to happen, and the puts it into play with everything he's got! You will do the same. Let's change how we make this goal and put some meat on the bones, utilizing a very popular goal over the past 3 decades, "I want to lose weight". I recall saying this very thing long ago, and up popped a small voice telling me that when I really want to...I will lose weight. It would be vaguely similar if you said, "I really need to organize my office" and when you truly want to do so, it will happen, not magically of course. The office fairy will not fly by on thread count wings sprinkling cherry dust over your old PC and all the sudden it's a Mac! When it becomes a priority, and only then...will you accomplish that goal.
1. Change the lingo! Instead of saying, "I want to lose weight" let's define it by saying," I weigh 200lbs. Own it. Make it yours.
2. Give it a deadline. By June 1st, 2022 I weigh 200lbs.
3. Now, for a sustainable plan of action. How will you accomplish this? It's not just - Oh, I'm gonna' work out three times a week. You must be detailed and set it in stone as if you were meeting your spouse for a date, or a client for a meeting, or the Frito Lay man for more Cheetos. Get Detailed! You will drink 8 glasses of water every day; Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you will go to the gym for no less than an hour and a half on the elliptical, playing basketball, lifting weights, or a combination of the three. Change when you eat, how you eat, and how often you eat. Adopt a sustainable diet that will work for you and your lifestyle as you morph your old ways to the brand new you. This should be a journey that you can continue long after you have reached your goal weight by your set date. Gone are the days of gorging yourself into oblivion on Mango Habenero wings and Ice Cold Coca-Cola while binge watching the Walking Dead.(Oh, like I am the only one)
4. Give it some value. Why do you want to achieve this goal? Are you writing a book to express you creative side? Is there a thin person in you just dying to get out, but you can normally calm that person down with extra cinnamon Bears and Soft pretzels from Autnie Anne's? Picture yourself after you have accomplished this goal. How do you feel? Look? See yourself? How are you different now? Get down to the heart of the matter, and then posterize it. Write it down, that reason you are going to achieve this goal, keep it front of you as often as possible. Stick post it notes on your bedroom mirror, look at it before you got to bed and when you get up in the morning. Write it on a note for you desk drawer or your car dashboard. This will be your drumbeat for the year, or at least until your goal date.
5. Do at least one thing every day that moves you closer to your goal.
6. Get an accountability partner. Get some help, bro! No one said you have to go at this alone. Ask someone who will tell you the truth in love, as many times as you NEED which will indefinitely be many more times than you want. The friend you select should be responsible, bold enough to help keep you on track, and responsive to keep on you throughout the year until you reach your goal, but remember, this is your goal not theirs. You are ultimately responsible for your own results. If you don't have a friend like that, then maybe you should make that your first goal, and then proceed with the rest, but then again...that's just my humble opinion.