New Year Success - Turning our Goals into Action Plans

It's HERE!!! Whether or not you were there at the first tick of the clock past midnight, YOUR NEW YEAR HAS ARRIVED! Today is the BIGGEST DAY of the year! Today is the day we begin setting our path and making our way to the most successful year ever! I'm so excited and reviewing my goal list as we speak! This year is going to be our year. I can just feel the positive energy all around me! Who is with me? So what are your plans for today? This is the day you make the most IMPORTANT TO DO LIST for the entire year! This is the day you turn those resolutions into GOALS with ACTION PLANS!

When getting ready to write your goals be sure to use "positive affirmations." Instead of saying "I want to" or "I will try," use statements that begin with "I WILL", "I CAN" or "I AM." Our realities are merely a reflection of our self-talk and inner thoughts. These thoughts are what form our beliefs. By using our goals as positive affirmations, we challenge any negative thoughts by creating targeted statements that are reinforcing our goals and creating how we see ourselves as we want to be!

Today I want each of you to take the list of goals from our goal planning exercise. Re-write these into "positive affirmations." So if you wrote something like, "I want to want to weigh 30 pounds less," re-write it to say "I will lose 30 pounds." By choosing what we say and how we say it, we are building our power inside to resist the negative and creating the person we truly are. Also be careful to not use negative words in your affirmation, so instead of saying "I will not overeat," say something like "I will practice portion control." Negative words tend to make us feel we are being "told to do something" and it takes the power away from us. We really want affirmations to empower us and let us know we are in charge of our destiny.

When you wrote out your list during that 20 minutes, you were unleashing the flood of energy inside of you that was filled with hopes and dreams. Your opportunity to believe in all the possibilities you have inside you. Those were things (even as crazy as some may have seemed) that you would really like to see happen.

After you have re-written your goals from the exercise into positive affirmations, I want you to separate and put them into one of the following categories: HEALTH, WEALTH, CAREER, RELATIONSHIPS, PERSONAL GROWTH, LIFESTYLE and SPIRITUALITY.

HEALTH: Anything to do with your "physical well-being and physical self" which could include your fitness, nutrition, weight, appearance, hairstyle, quit drinking caffeine, quit smoking etc.

WEALTH: Anything that improves your "financial well-being" which could include your budgeting, investing, opening savings accounts, debt repayment, spending money, etc.

CAREER: Anything to do with "what you do to create wealth or self-worth" which could include your job, business, skills, mentoring someone, coaching, etc.

RELATIONSHIPS: Anything that "builds and enhances your relationships" such as time with family, friends, co-workers, a date night with your spouse, etc.

PERSONAL GROWTH: Anything that "builds your knowledge" about something you want to do or learn which could include going back to school, taking a business course, studying nutrition, reading, time management, etc.

LIFESTYLE: Anything that has to do with "how you live" which could include buying a new home or new car, remodeling the kitchen, taking a cruise to Alaska, going on a family vacation to Disney, etc

SPIRITUALITY: Anything that brings you "peace and tranquility" this could include commitments to your faith, attending your church, practicing meditation, anything that brings you inner peace.

After you get these sorted into categories, start prioritizing them by giving each a deadline you would like to have it accomplished. This should help you determine whether or not your goals are short-term or long-term and which are most important to you. Then I want you to pick the top three you would like to begin focusing on. These are the ones we will begin to work on by giving them action statements. Once you've done the process it will be easy to come back and develop your action plans for the remaining ones.

Let's say one of your goals is "to lose 30 pounds." First you are going to look at the goal and ask yourself "why" is this important to you. Perhaps, because it would alleviate the stress to your joints and help relieve some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis or it would make you feel better about yourself and improve your self-confidence, etc. The point is by knowing "WHY" we are doing something our goal has relevance and importance. If our goals are important enough to us we will find our "HOW" to get it done.

So you would re-write the goal as "I will lose 30 pounds." Then yourself a deadline to accomplish your goal. Something like, "I will lose 30 pounds in 90 days." Now comes the "how" or your action plan. How do you specifically plan to accomplish your goal. Action plans simply define the steps we must take to achieve the goal. So it will look something like this:

1. I will "PUSH PLAY" and exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
2. I will schedule my workouts into the WOWY Super Gym and invite at least two people to join me.
3. I will post my accountability to the Cinderella Pact thread daily.
4. I will practice portion control.
5. I will follow my menu planner and preplan my weekly meals each Sunday.
6. I will drink 8 (8 oz.) glasses of water each day.
7. I will track my calories daily.

The possibilities are endless. It is so much easier to bring our goals to life when we understand why they are important to us. Remember, when the "why" is strong enough we will find our "how."

After you get your goals and plans of action down on paper the next thing is to EXECUTE your plan. I suggest posting your goals where you will be able to visit them daily. By reading our affirmations we make them part of our subconscious and self-talk. And remember this is exactly what are beliefs are based on and those beliefs become our reality! I keep mine posted at my computer desk, then every morning as I plan out my day with my "to do" list, I am always certain to add the steps necessary I need to take that day to ensure I am working towards my goal.

But it isn't just as simple as getting them on paper and reading them...we actually have to do the work too. This is where some people will slowly lose steam. So we are going to make sure you don't. So how are we going to do this? By making sure our goals are MEASURABLE! We are going to have to give ourselves some mini targets to hit. Kind of like mile markers on our journey to make sure we are staying on course.

So in this scenario, I would suggest you probably do bi-weekly weigh-ins. Losing at least 1-2 pounds of weight a week is a safe, realistic and attainable mini target to measure your progress. You don't want to weigh too often because it could become discouraging especially since we know how easily our weight can fluctuate. You will also want to take measurements bi-weekly. This way if the scales is being EVIL, and we all know how unpredictable it can be, at least you will get a fair assessment if you're on track with your goal because losing body fat is an important measure in your goal for weight loss, too.

Next always EVALUATE your progress. If  you haven't made progress in a couple of weeks, it is possible you need to review your action plans and make some changes to help ensure you are making progress. The key here is not to reassess your GOAL but the ACTION STEPS TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. You never want to change your goal, only what you must do to get there.

This is just a little bit to get us started. Another useful tip I use in setting goals is keeping them SMART. Smart goals are simply: S=Specific; M=Measurable; A=Attainable; R=Realistic; T=Timely.

I hope this helps you with your goal planning.

2011 IS THE YEAR OF SUCCESS!!!

Keep Bringing It!