Love Timely Goals That Make You Feel Successful?

Welcome to 2018! I hope your holiday season was fabulous!

I’m so pumped to help you make this a super productive, rewarding and happy year.

Naturally you might be thinking about goals. Or you might be thinking, my goal is to not make any goals, because they never happen anyway.

Either way, there is a right and wrong way to create a goal. One that you can actually achieve and more importantly, one that makes you feel successful and confident along the way.

When you don’t feel like you can really achieve your goal (lose the weight, write the book, make more money, find the love of your life), you sabotage your ability to make progress before you even begin.

On the other hand, when you see the results and feel the pride of moving forward, you become a goal lovin’ machine.

So there’s really one main difference between a goal that requires a whole lotta will power and room for disappointment versus one that gives you a plan and sets you up for success.

It’s a results based goal vs. process based goal.

Here’s what a typical results based goal looks and feels like.

• January 1st: This is my year. I WILL lose 20 pounds! I’m going no carbs, no sugar, no processed food and running three miles a day.
• January 3rd: Zero carbs for two days is killing me. What’s one pizza slice going to do?
• January 7th: I’ve killed myself for a week and haven’t lost a pound. Dieting sucks. I give up on this thing.

Sound painfully familiar? You make a goal. You put a result around it. You work towards that result. It doesn’t happen how you wished. You give it up.

Now check out what a process based goal looks and feels like.

• January 1st: This is my year. I WILL lose 20 pounds! I’ll exercise more and eat healthier. To get more exercise, I’ll get on a workout schedule (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday). To eat better, I’ll meal plan and grocery shop every Sunday afternoon. For accountability, I’ll update a food and fitness tracker every night at 8pm and weigh myself weekly on Monday mornings.
• January 3rd: I’ve gone for two 25 minute workouts! Meal plan and shopping is super helpful.
• January 8th: Lost half a pound. Not as much as I wanted so and I’ll stick to my schedule but tweak my food intake.
• January 15th: Lost 2 pounds!

Can you guess what’s likely to happen on January 30th and February 15th and March 1st and so on and so on? You’ll stick to your goal. Yes, there will be bumps in the road but because you’re making progress, you’ll be inspired to stick with it.

Think of process based goals as habits.

Focus on the habits you want to create and expect those habits to eventually lead to results.

Once you have the habit down, that’s when you’ll get the outcomes you want.

A problem with results based goals is that you obsess about the outcome which can actually put you in a negative mind frame. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds and you’re consumed with that goal, you subconsciously tell yourself “I won’t be happy until I lose 20 pounds.”

Whereas when you think about the process, you get joy in the process itself, regardless of the outcome.

If your goal is to lose 20 pounds and you focus on the process of exercising and eating healthier and you only lose 15 pounds, your new found habits and discipline essentially “make up” for the 5 pound difference as you see greater success in your overall health, sleep and anxiety.

Another important idea to keep in mind is that when you are focused on processed based goals, you will analyze and tweak along the way. This motivates you to make changes when necessary and push yourself when you’re ready. Every day you’ll know you’re making progress.

Lastly, I want to leave you with the idea of celebrating your successes along the journey. Instead of waiting to celebrate until you achieve your results, celebrate every time you follow the process.

Yup, give yourself a high five, put a giant X on your calendar, treat yourself to a coffee, every day that you maintain your workout or eating routine or other habit/discipline.

And remember, you are not aiming for perfection. Every day you work to get better is a successful day.

Never forget, you can reach any goal you want.

The only difference in your success or failure is the process you follow. Focus on the habits you want to create and ultimately you will get anything you want.

Here’s to getting the right things done!

XO, Mridu