Musings & More – Happy Goal Year!

As the final day of 2016 draws to a close, we at Misty Meadows, like many of you, are taking an account of the year that is about to pass and making plans for the year that is to come.

Personally, I’m not very good at keeping resolutions. Some of them make it until Jan 2, some to January 21 and very few make it past February.

How about you? Do you start the year full of good intentions only to find yourself stuck in the same old ruts you found yourself in the year (or for years) before?

This year, why not try something different. Rather than resolutions, call them goals.

goal /ɡōl/
noun
plural noun: goals

the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.
“going to law school has become the most important goal in his life”
synonyms: objective, aim, end, target, design, intention, intent, plan, purpose; More the destination of a journey.

“the aircraft bumped toward our goal some 400 miles to the west”
literarya point marking the end of a race.

“… marking the end of the race.” “More the destination of the journey.”  Wow!  Isn’t that what we all want?  To reach our final destination, our goal successfully?!

Goals indicate definable steps to make something happen, whereas resolutions tend to be more black and white – you do or you don’t.  Even worse, the focuse is on trying NOT to do something, further making the experience a negative one.  You are either successful or you are not and there is nothing in between that would indicate you have made any progress.

With goals, there are steps to reach the goal, with many opportunities for success in between.

Here are some steps for making successful goals:

1. create goals for specific areas of your life – stop smoking, lose weight, work on relationships, organize your life, budget, pay off debt, save for a trip.
2. make sure they are realistic goals – will you really lose 50# in a month or save for a cruise within 6 months?
3. write down your goals – use a special diary or notebook to make it fun.
4. review your goals often – tape them to your fridge, computer monitor, mirror.
5. be accountable to others – peer pressure often helps, so seek the support of others.
6. have fun! – celebrate each success and learn from your failures and remember, they are not the end of the world, there is always next year.

What are a few of the goals you have for the new year?  Leave a comment below. 

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