Today is January 4th and I’m wondering how your goals for 2014 are going so far? We need to have both long and short term goals; things we want want to accomplish in the “here and now” and things to accomplish over time. You can’t go somewhere if you don’t know where you are going, right?
I love the quote above from Dave Ramsey because it applies not only to our financial goals but other goals, as well. I’m going to give you a few examples from my own goals for this year so you can see this from the human perspective.
So as you can see I have some long term goals and some short term (if I handle my diet and exercise properly) goals to address this year.
- Short term – No COKE (or soda) until I lose 20 pounds. I’ve done this pretty easily in the past although I am a true coke-aholic I can give it up if/when needed to reach a goal.
- Short term – Exercise DAILY until I lose 20 pounds. I have hypothyroidism and because of this it takes A LOT of WORK to lose weight. (It also requires being on the correct dosage of medication. I’m due for a check-up to check for that, too but for now I’m going to “assume” I’m within a “good enough” range.) Since it takes so much for me to lose weight I’m going to exercise daily until I hit the 20 pound loss mark.
- Long term – Thankful Jar. I have much to be thankful for and I really want to concentrate on what I do have this year instead of only thinking back on what didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I created the “Thankful Jar” to be a daily reminder for all I have to be thankful for.
- Long Term – Read Daily. I LOVE to read but it seems to be one of those things that get pushed to the back burner. It helps me mentally, as well as physically. I homeschool my son and I want to show him the importance of reading, both for learning and for enjoyment, by example. I haven’t been doing that very much lately, but this year I decided to lead by example.
So as you go through your first weekend of 2014, STOP and PONDER the things you want for this year. What are the things you want most out of this year? What are you willing to give up so that you can reach your goals?
Are you trying to reach a certain level of fitness this year? Are you willing to give up 30 minutes a day of “free time” to exercise to reach that goal?
Are you trying to hit that number on the scale that has been missing for so long? Are you willing to count calories or track your food? Reduce your desserts? Maybe cut down on sugar? Or maybe carbs?
Are you trying to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables? Are you willing to go to the farmers market this summer? Or perhaps make more frequent trips to the grocery store to pick them up? These things take planning ahead and that requires a bit more effort than opening a box of mac & cheese!
We have the tools inside of us (or available to us from the internet or this site) to accomplish all of these goals but we have to ask, “What are we willing to give up to get what we want?” and “How badly do we want to reach that goal?”
I’m willing to give up Coke for the next few months. I’m also willing to give up “rest days” to reach my goal!! I want it THAT BAD!!!
If you haven’t sat down and thought about your long and short term goals for this year that is your first step. After that figure out what is going to help you reach those goals the easiest. More than likely you are going to have to give up something but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We have to stretch ourselves or we don’t change. Changing and growing is part of the journey to living a healthy lifestyle, which is what we all want in the grand scheme of things!
Happy goal setting, shrinkers!!
xoxoxo,
Ann
Image source: Dave Ramsey
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