not to us

It's that time of year: everyone declares that this year will be the best one yet.  Everyone resolves to do at least one thing better.  There's a sense of newness:  new beginnings, new chances, new opportunities...  It's incredibly intoxicating. 

It's also incredibly dangerous.  Nothing feels as good as an emotional high:  "This year will be different!  I'm going to get healthy!"  Nothing feels as bad as an emotional low:  "Seriously?  I couldn't even make it to Jan. 5 without splurging on some chocolate chip cookies?"  The danger lies in the disappointment.

Often, we make goals and then reality comes around and our weakness smacks us in the face.  It sucks.

But I want to encourage us all that this year really can be different.  It's simply a choice that you must make and keep making.  That's the key.  You are going to "fall off the wagon" once or ten times.  That's okay, and it's to be expected.  However, you can not fall off the wagon only to say, "Welp...I've gone and done it again.  Screwed it up.  I might as well not even try."  You must fall off the wagon, then pick yourself up again and say, "Well, at least I got that out of the way.  My bum hurts a bit, but it'll be okay.  I'm going to decide to start over again.  Today is a new day, a new chance.  And today, I'm going to try my best to do it the way I wanted to do it."

The Bible says (in Lamentations 3:22-23) that God's love never fails and that his mercies are new each morning.  Basically, that means that He gives us a new chance each morning.  If He's willing to let us start over again, then why don't we allow ourselves the same favor?

Here's the deal:  To stick to a goal, it has to be a proper goal.  You can't just say, "I'm going to live a healthier lifestyle in 2009."  or  "I'm going to be more diligent in 2009."  or  "I'm going to be a better mother in 2009."  Those are all very good and well, but they're also very broad and ripe for failure.  To declare a proper goal it must be specific, attainable, and measurable.

1.  One of the most important things is not to overload yourself.  It took a while to create your bad habits; it's going to take a while to create your new good habits.  Instead of taking on five goals at once, decide what your very most important change needs to be.  Focus on that priority.  Once you've started to get that process under control, then you can move on to the next goal. 

I'll use myself as an example.  My health lifestyle is a good indicator of the rest of my life.  When my health and eating are under control, it's a pretty good bet that the rest of my life is under control, as well.  Therefore, my very first priority (to change) for this year is to return to a healthy lifestyle (and subsequently provide a healthy lifestyle for my family.)  Once I get this goal well on it's way to success, I hope to take this discipline into the other areas of our home life: like house cleaning.  However, I am going to focus on our health first and foremost.

2.  Once you've decided your priority, make a specific goal that can be measured.  "I will be at my goal weight of 150 lbs. by August 1, 2009."  (That's a healthy, sustainable, and maintainable rate of loss at 1-2 lbs. per week.)

3.  Make a plan to reach your goal.  This will basically be a set of smaller goals that will lead you to your ultimate goal.  For me:

• I will return to the Weight Watchers program and follow their healthy guidelines.
• I will use the knowledge I have gained from Weight Watchers to plan healthy meals each week for me and my family.  (and all of your families)  :)
• I will lose 5% of my body weight (10 lbs.) by February 15.  (This is a healthy, sustainable, and maintainable rate of loss at 1-2 lbs. per week.)
• I will lose 10% of my body weight (20 lbs.) by April 1.  (Same good rate)
• I will lose 15% of my body weight (30 lbs.) by May 15.
• I will lose 20% of my body weight (40 lbs.) by July 1.
• I will lose 25% of my body weight (50 lbs.) by August 1.

4.  Take your plan (set of small goals) in small attainable chunks.  For instance, I'm not going to try to plan a month's worth of meals.  I'm going to plan the first week's worth of meals.  At the end of this week, I will be able to measure whether or not I have met my goal.  Did I plan our meals for the week, and did we stick to the plan?  If I did a good job, then I can try to challenge myself to do more (like two weeks at a time) or I can continue at this rate if it's meeting our needs and helping me accomplish my goal.

5.  Tell someone else about your plan and ask them to hold you accountable to your plan.  All of the Losers are my accountability for the meal plans.  They will all be counting on me to have these meal plans created, and that will be great motivation and accountability.  Mike is my accountability for how well I stick to the plan.  :)

6.  When you attain your first goal, celebrate and reward yourself somehow.  (Make sure the reward is appropriate for the size of the goal.)  If I plan the first week's worth of meals and stick to the plan 100%, then I get to go use my Gymboree gift card that I got at Christmas.  If not, then the card must wait.  :)

If you're a Loser, this post comes with an assignment (not a mandatory assignment, but a highly encouraged assignment.)  Go over to the Losers Blog and post your Ultimate Goal and your plan to reach that goal (set of smaller goals.)  By posting our Goals and Plans, we will be able to hold each other accountable and encourage each other when we're a bit down.

If you're not a Loser, I hope this still encourages you to approach your goals in a healthy and successful manner this year!  :)  Good luck!  This year really is going to be the best one yet!