I feel that these days anyone can learn how to set goals. There are countless books, and even more articles on the web, teaching people how to set goals, and pretty much any kind of goal. Whether it is a personal goal or a team goal, a health goal or a personal development goal, an effective goal or an attainable goal. If you’ve read up on, or just know about setting goals, then you probably noticed my last thought ended with two aspects that every goal should incorporate. But setting goals is a whole other topic. And I do not want to talk about that. I want to talk about actually achieving the goals you set!
Sure, setting effective goals is important to achieving them, but there is more to achieving goals than just setting great goals. Think about it, if all it took was setting the ?perfect goal? to achieve your goal, everyone would be exactly who they want to be and have exactly what they want. Unfortunately, it takes more than just setting that goal to achieve it, it takes work. Hard work. And that hard work is exactly what is behind the scenes of achieving goals. So let’s talk about it.
Achieving goals takes hard work in the four core aspects of life: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects. Let’s discuss the first two individually:
Mental
This is where effective goal setting comes in. If you set a goal you do not believe in, or do not feel you can achieve, or do not really believe in, then your not going to achieve it. But that isn?t all. Even if a goal seems achievable when you set it, over time it may seem to be unreachable. Personally, I’ve been trying for two years to lose all of the sixty pounds I put on over 2007 and 2008. I started 2009 at 240 pounds, peaking at the end of 2008 at 245 pounds.
Over the last two years, I’ve slowly and naturally taken that weight off through changing my diet, exercising regularly, and just doing a better job all around in take care of myself. I just got back to 180 pounds this week. I was stuck at 185 pounds for months, and was about to give up on those last five pounds. Mentally I was worn down, and lost hope. Then I took some time, thought things through, and mentally recovered and then hit it hard. Staying mentally strong is just as hard as anything else, but its crucial to success.
Physical
It does not matter if your goal is a physical goal, like losing weight, or getting in better shape, or if it is a goal to get a promotion at work; if it?s a goal, the state of your physical being is crucial. Take the example of getting a promotion at work. If you are not taking care of your self physically, you are going to be more prone to illness, and having to take a lot of time off work as ‘sick’ days is not appealing to upper management. Or what if it’s not even that, but rather you simply just do not fit the physical standard needed to perform your daily tasks, or the daily tasks of the promotion you desire.
Ultimately, taking care of your self physically is crucial. A healthy, strong you is much more desirable than a sick, weak you. My recommendations for always being capable of the hard work demanded physically, and the three simple principles I strive to live by everyday are as follows. First, eat healthy. If you want to be healthy and alive, eat food that is alive. Eat fresh fruits and veggies, along with food you prepare, and avoid the processed junk.
Second, exercise. Just get active in some way. Start small, and build up. Third, unleash the full potential of your body. I personally see a chiropractor. Others prefer acupuncture or massages. I personally feel the difference, and see the difference when I am well adjusted. Some call me extreme, but I have a Folsom chiropractor for when I’m home, and a Honolulu chiropractor for when I’m in Hawaii. They are that important to me, that I always have one I can go to.
Ryan Chaffin is an Internet fanatic and loves anything technology, Internet, and social media related along with sports and health & wellness. Ryan believes in achieving your fullest potential. You can also find Ryan on Twitter (@ryanchaffin).