Setting and Achieving Goals Goal setting is a powerful process that has the capability to turn your dreams into reality.  The process helps you to define your goals, clarify your focus, avoid distractions and move your life forward.  As you start to find success with goal setting, your motivation will build and you will have confidence to set larger goals and see them through to fruition.  Goal setting techniques can be used all areas of life.  They help you to organize your time, effort and resources.  They help you to make sure that you spend you time on the things that really matter.  Well known author, Steven Covey, relays this story about the importance of putting first things first.  “I attended a seminar once where the instructor was lecturing on time. At one point, he said, "Okay, it’s time for a quiz". He reached under the table and pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar. He set it on the table next to a platter with some fist-sized rocks on it. "How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?" he asked. After we made our guess, he said, "Okay. Let’s find out." He set one rock in the jar…then another…then another. I don’t remember how many he got in, but he got the jar full. Then he asked, "Is that jar full?” Everybody looked at the rocks and said, "Yes". Then he said, "Ahhh." He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar and the gravel went in all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Then he grinned and said once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time we were on to him. "Probably not," we said. "Good!" he replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went in all the little spaces left by the rocks and the gravel. Once more he looked at us and said, "Is the jar full?" "No!" we all roared. He said, "Good!" and he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in. He got something like a quart of water in that jar. Then he said "Well, what’s the point?" Somebody said "Well, there are gaps, and if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life." "No," he said, "that’s not the point. The point is this: if you hadn’t put these big rocks in first, would you ever have gotten any of them in?"   Start With the Big Picture Start with the big picture with broad, overall ideas.  These could be I will improve my health, I will improve financial status, or I will reach and maintain a healthy weight. These overall concepts help to shape direction and perspective.  Spend some time really thinking about what you would like to achieve in the next 1-10 years.  What is most important to you?  Why is it so important?  Set one, two or three overall broad goals that best describe the dreams that you have for your life.  Keep in mind that these are not the goals that can be accomplished within several weeks or even months.  These goals are typically long-term and might take 1 year, 5 years or even 10 years to reach.  The next step it to take these overall concepts and craft them into goals utilizing the SMART acronym.  SMART stands for: Specific  |  Measurable  |  Attainable  |  Relevant  |  Timely State your goals in positive, specific terms that can be measured.  Instead of the ambiguous goal of I would like to exercise more, state the goal as I will walk an average of 10,000 steps each day by January of XXXX.  Be sure the goal is attainable.  And lastly goals must have a deadline.  Deadlines bring about a sense or urgency that can propel you forward in stark contrast to having no end date in mind.  Break It Down Into Small StepsThe next step is to take those large overall goals and break them down to smaller and smaller goals.  Doing this helps you to develop a plan of reaching a series of small stepwise goals in order to achieve the large overall goal.  Each overall goal should have an annual plan, a monthly plan and a weekly or daily plan.  Once you have a plan in place, you can create a to do list and start moving towards your goals today.  If you have not participated in a walking program in years, you may want to set your goal for the first week as wear a pedometer each day to track steps and determine average number of steps taken.  Once you accomplish that goal, and experience success, build on it for the following week by setting another attainable goal.  Logically, the goal should be relevant to the overall larger goal.  For example download new music to iPod may be relevant to an overall goal of walking 10,000 steps each day if you like to listen music on the iPod while you walk.  Relevant goals should help you to remain focused and aligned on the larger overall goals.  Before moving forward, review your goals and plans, and make sure that they reflect the way you want to live your life. Write it Down Putting your plan in writing makes it tangible and gives it substance.  You can now look at it, review it and document your progress. There are many tools that you can use for this purpose.  You may want to use an online diary or goal tracker, a spreadsheet, a 3-ring binder or note cards taped to your refrigerator.  Which ever method you choose, make sure that it is something that you will have daily access to and is easy to use.    Lee Iacocca: "The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen." Plan for Obstacles  Make a list of potential obstacles that you may face.  Are there people who may discourage you?  Do you have physical limitations?  Is lack of time a factor?  Make a list of potential obstacles, analyze them and develop a strategy to overcome them.  This type of pre-planning allows you to have a contingency plan so when you encounter an obstacle you know what to do and it doesn’t derail your momentum.   Get SupportFind someone that has been successful in reaching the type of goals that you are shooting for.  Ask what they did to be successful, overcome obstacles, stay focused, and celebrate successes.  Although we are all different, it is valuable to learn from the successes of others.  Keeping the Commitment Daily:  Review daily to do list and document progress.  Weekly:  Review progress from the prior week and develop new daily goals for the next week.  Monthly:  Review progress from the previous month and develop new goals for the next month.  Adjust as needed based upon progress.  Celebrate Your Success When you achieve a goal, celebrate.  Be it a small goal or a larger goal, reward yourself appropriately.  Continuing with the 10,000 average steps per day goal, consider giving yourself a star for each day in which you meet the daily goal.  After accumulating 30 stars, a pedicure / new fitness clothing / movie night or other reward is earned.  Regular rewards help to build confidence and keep momentum strong.  Your goals will change over time.  Adjust them as needed.  Once walking 10,000 steps every day becomes a firmly engrained habit, you no longer need to monitor it on a daily basis.  You may be ready to move onto I will run a 5K race by July of next summer.   As a post-bariatric surgery patient, we have already established some goals for you.  The overall concept is that you will reach and maintain a healthy weight.  The SMART goal is you will reach and maintain a weight of _____ by a specific timeframe (dependent upon the type of bariatric surgery).  This overall goal is then broken down to percentage of weight lost at 6 week, 3 months, 12 months, 2 years.  In order for you to reach these goal milestones, smaller daily goals have been established.  These are:  §         Consume ____ grams of protein per day. §         Eat six small meals each day (1/2 – 1 cup of food). §         Consume calorie free drinks (except for up to 6 oz of juice and 24 oz of low fat milk daily) §         Do not drink with meals or for 30 minutes after. §        Choose foods with 2 grams or less added sugar. §         Limit foods high in fat. §         Engage in regular aerobic and strength training activities (goals determined by individual abilities).   These smaller daily goals are in line with the overall goal of reaching and maintaining a healthy weight.  All you need to do is put an I will in front and add your individual information.   If you are not in the habit of setting and tracking goals, consider starting today--know where you are going and have a firm plan in place to get there.