At the beginning. That’s the only place we can start.

Maybe this year, you want to pay off debt (like me!), run a 5K, or start walking a little bit every day. In my experience, one of the biggest things that gets between me and any goal I have, big or little, is my thinking. What I mean by that is, I can literally think my way into success or failure. Sometimes, if I think about a step in a goal too much, it literally causes me more stress than taking the step would actually cause. And if I repeatedly think about that step, I can repeatedly cause myself stress!

For instance. I like to run (well- jog). If I set a goal for myself such as, “I will jog 3 times a week, with one of them being a ‘long’ jog” and then start getting in my head about it- it’s too hot out, it’s too cold, I don’t feel good, my allergies are bad, the air is bad, there are too many dogs out, whatever- if I start thinking about those things too much, I cause myself stress and then when the time comes to do the activity, I just don’t want to do it.

So for me, I can’t think about the steps too much if that makes sense! I realize that it might not!

There are things that I do though to set myself up for success. I consider the weather and things like, at this time of the year, I don’t want to run in the dark. So if I’m going to jog during the week, I’m most likely going to have to do that at the gym on a treadmill. Now that’s okay. But I also know certain things about myself. I’m not a huge morning person. And once I come home, chances are that I’m not going to drive back to the gym, which is very close to where I work.

So I need to throw some gym clothes in the car, and stop at the gym on the way home. I also try to walk every day, indoors or out, on the days that I don’t jog. There have been times when I get out of work and forgot my gym clothes so I end up walking on the treadmill in scrubs. It’s not the end of the world. But I have to get it into my head to not have excuses. Life is never perfect. The stars are not always going to be aligned. There are going to be more days than not when, I don’t feel like doing the thing. I’ve gotta do it anyway. And if I can do it quick, without letting myself think about it, so much the better. As in, I have to pull into the parking lot at the gym, regardless of the fact that what I’d rather do is just shut off- I’d rather go home and doom-scroll for an hour.

That’s not to say that we should never listen to our bodies. Sometimes we need to rest, and it’s important to do that. But something that I often tell my patients is yes- listen to your body but also, stay as active as you can be. As a friend once told me- “It’s harder to hit a moving target.”

Another thing when it comes to goals that you might have heard of before is to have SMART goals. This concept came from back in the 80s from the business world. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This type of framework is frequently used for personal goal-setting. I think I might use that framework more often than I realize. But there are times when the time comes and goals that I’ve set as a deadline for myself. At those times, I need to regroup and figure out why I didn’t meet my goal. Was it unreasonable? Maybe unattainable? DId I set the bar a little too high? Because while there are things we can do to reach our goals, there are some parts of it that are out of our control. We can’t control everything.

I’d love to hear what tips and tricks you all have for reaching goals! Do you like to set them? Or are they the bain of your existence?