What are your goals for November 2019? 30 Days – that’s how long you have to work toward those goals. 30 days – that’s how much time is going to pass whether you spend those days working toward your goals or not. 30 days from now, what will you say? “I’m 30 days closer to my goals” or “I’m at a standstill”? The choice is yours.
Every day, people set goals. How many of those people actually meet their goals? What stops us from realizing our goals? I’ve found three things that hinder my goals:
1). Lack of Goals: Quite simply, I didn’t set any goals
2). Lack of a Plan: I didn’t make a plan of attack for my goals
3). Lack of Execution: I didn’t execute my plan of attack
Lack of Goals
I’m very good at setting goals. As a matter of fact, I consider myself an expert at the S.M.A.R.T goal theory. I understand that my goals need to be:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-Bound
Unfortunately, many people don’t set any goals so they don’t have a target, they don’t have anything to shoot for. No goals are a set up for failure.
Set a specific goal and write it down. For instance, I want to lose weight. That’s a good goal, but it isn’t a S.M.A.R.T goal because I haven’t specified how much weight I want to lose. Take the time now to write down some goals for November.
Lack of a Plan
Ok, maybe you set a goal, but how are you going to accomplish that goal? You have to have a PLAN. Let’s use our weight loss goal again but let’s say I want to lose 2 pounds/week. What steps are you going to take to reach that goal? My plan would be, walk 30 minutes five times each week, drink 64 ounces of water each day, and eat clean. I recommend spelling out what eating clean means by creating a weekly menu and sticking with it. Plan for success.
Lack of Execution
And here’s where I screw up every month. I set my goals, I even detail my plan of attack. Unfortunately, life happens and I sometimes don’t execute the plan I’ve set in place. Instead of drinking 64 ounces of water a day, I probably drink that much in a whole week. I tend to not drink enough water which causes headaches, which causes me to lie down and not take my daily walks. Then I get frustrated and order Chinese food. Lack of execution is my greatest downfall.
To accomplish our goals, we have to complete all three of these steps. If we try to take a shortcut, we’ll see the results of that shortcut on our targeted date, December 1 in our example.
As I said in the opening paragraph, the next 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, or year are going to come and go whether we’re working toward our goals or not. Wouldn’t you rather be closer to you goal(s) than farther away or stuck in the same spot?
Comment below with three things: 1). One of your SMART goals, 2) Your plan of attack, and 3) The words, “I WILL,” if you’re committed to reaching your June goals.
We can do this!
Originally published on ReeINSPIRED
Published June 4, 2016