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Are Your Goals Well Defined

MP900444381If you do not know what you want, your goals will not be well defined. Unless they have a desired outcome, they will remain just a general direction – not a goal.

Your goal should state: this is what I hope to do – this is what I want to accomplish. Write it down as an affirmation statement.

Goals can be as simple as developing a habit to exercise every day, becoming more organized, or expressing a kindness each day. Or they can be as complicated as getting a degree, paying off debt or learning how to become a better parent.

Unless goals are important to us personally, motivation will be difficult to maintain.

When we don’t see immediate progress, or we continue to face difficult obstacles, it is easy to get discouraged and give up.

 When setting long term goals or ones that do not immediately reward us, it is hard to remain motivated and committed.

To counter those times, it is important to be honest with yourself. What things tend to sidetrack you or keep you off track? How do you handle discouragement? What enabled you to be successful with goals in the past? What do you say to yourself about your ability to complete your goals? Are you setting yourself up for failure by having too many complex goals in place?

The structure of our goal and plan of action needs to complement our personality and typical way of doing things. Otherwise, we will not have the strategies in place to offset difficult and low motivation times. If self discipline and self regulation are difficult, a buddy system or other support system can help.

Is your goal important enough to sacrifice time, effort, money and immediate gratification in order to accomplish it?

Think about the goals you currently have in place or want to put in place. Can you write an affirmation statement that states why this is important to you? How will you feel when you accomplish this?

 Marlene Anderson

 

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