Establishing Goals

{I have so many ideas for this blog that I've found them bottle necking in my throat, blocking the exit so that none can come out! I finally decided we should start at the beginning... figuring out what you want.}

'Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly,as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

~Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland*

Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? How are you going to get there?

"People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It's as simple as that."

- Earl Nightingale

Over the next few days, give some serious thought as to where you would like to be this time next year. Then shape those ideas into goals. Let's do that in steps...

First, make your ultimate objective your long-term goal. Then, divide it into mini-steps for several short-term goals. Your goals need to be reasonable (attainable), objective and measurable. So, for example: "I want to loose weight," is a great idea, and reasonable, too, but it is neither objective nor measurable. "I want to loose 20 lbs by this time next year, " is better. "I will go to the gym 3x/week; I will stop eating ice cream at 10:30 at night; I will develop a healthy eating plan in the next 30 days," are all possible short-term goals that will help you attain your long-term goal.

Then, (drum-roll, please...), commit to your goals. Believe in it, want it, live it.

DOUBLE-DOG DARE: Write down 3 reasonable, objective and measurable goals. They can be long-term with short-term goals that will help you get to where you want to be.

*Taken from Susan Heathfield's The Awesome Power of Goal Setting: Ten Tips for Triumph