Dealing with setbacks

Tips To Stay On Track Remember, life is neither perfect nor predictable. Various events and circumstances WILL come along to delay or interrupt the achievement of your goals. We do fall ill, have accidents, become pregnant, our cars break down and others do let us down. And, when we forget or get stressed, we’ll revert to bad or emotional eating. It’s part of the human condition. We’re not perfect...

An Example of a Goal

Ultimate Goal: ‘I want to permanently lose 12 kilos (26 pounds) in body weight by September 200x.’ Intermediate Goals: ‘…to lose an average of 2 kilos (4 pound) per month (i.e. an average of 0.5 kilos (1 pound) per week)’ How: Diet modifications(you should do ALL of these) REDUCE saturated and trans-fat intake (deep fried food, take-away, pizza, chocolate, ice cream etc.) REDUCE intake...

Goals must be WRITTEN DOWN

It is an established fact that people who write down their goals are far more successful at achieving them than those who merely think about them. Once you’ve written down the WHAT (the goal) and the WHEN (the deadline), it’s vital to write down the HOW; the steps, methods and equipment needed or the changes you must make to achieve your goal. Writing goals down, appears to generate a psychological...

Goals must have a TIME FRAME

Without a deadline,you run the very real risk of failure. You could delay starting or remain unconcerned about interruptions which drag on and on and on… Of course, there may be legitimate reasons, beyond your control, for delays and interruptions. That’s okay. You simply adjust your target and end-dates accordingly. This too, is part of being realistic and working WITH, rather than against the realities of your...

Goals must be MEASURABLE

If you can’t quantify your goal, how can you assess your progress or when you’ve achieved it? Your final goal – and the intermediate steps – must be measurable by such things as time, kilos/pounds, centimetres/inches, dress/trouser size, minutes/seconds, etc. or whatever scale is relevant and appropriate. Part 1: Goals must be realistic and achievable Part 2: Goals must be specific and personal to...

Goals must be SPECIFIC & PERSONAL TO YOU

A goal of stronger, faster or slimmer is too vague to be of real use. To be effective, a goal must be concrete and specific. For example: ‘I want to be the ideal weight for my age, height and gender’ (e.g. 74 kg or 160 pounds) ‘I want to compete in this year’s local/national marathon’ ‘I want to be able to play ball with my kids without losing my breath or thinking I’m going to...