Achieving goals

I remember being in my diploma program full-time this past year and thinking at one point, "if someone mentions 'SMART' goals one more time, I am going to make a point and actually drag a dead horse into this lecture hall and beat it in front of my professors." It was the moral of every story, the take-away from every lesson, the final question in every exam. How do you set a goal? How do you make sure you take the steps to achieve it? What are the barriers, pitfalls, and common mistakes? How can we ensure others' success when helping them set their goals?

I was sure I'd be able to literally do anything I wanted after my program. I was set for life. I could do anything.

But then I took a sales job in the health, wellness, and fitness industry and I was terrified of not achieving my goals. I even had a fancy mathematical formula that explained exactly what I needed to do in order to get what I wanted, and still I felt like I was staring into Death's face each time I walked into work. Yeah, I can't do this. I know I have my super specific goals laid out, and everything's measurable and attainable and realistic and has to be done by the end of the month, but damn.

So excuse me while I do a victory dance on this early morning on the 30th of this 31-day month of July, where I've already achieved my sales goal and gone ahead and made a new one for the next two days. The second of which I'm already very confident I can reach.

One thing I've had to come to terms with as a perfectionist is that you can't be good at something the first time you try it. I have unrealistic expectations whenever I attempt something, which leaves me unhappy, lacking confidence, feeling stupid, and a whole whack of other nasty things. Any normal person knows that "practice makes perfect" and that it takes time to learn. Well, goddamn, it took me long enough to learn that learning is a process. This whole paragraph is getting exhausting. The point is that I've been extremely hard on myself, which can be a huge barrier when it comes to self-improvement.

In the past, I've been a quitter. I've thought, "I'm not good at this and it's the first time.. so I should probably just stop doing it now and save everyone the trouble." The only person I end up harming with that decision is myself. Now, if you wanted to talk about things I'm really good at it, self-sabotage is the area of study where I've earned most of my achievements.

Setting goals is kind of the easy part, once you know how it's done. Sticking with the steps in between that will ensure your success, even when you fall off track.. that's the meat and potatoes of the whole thing. That's where you'll make or break the bank. That's where you really grow.

I guess the take-away here includes a few things:

a. if someone repeats something, it's probably important and worth listening to.
b. wanting something is only a small portion of the work involved in getting what you want.
c. learning takes effort and time.
d. I genuinely believe it's impossible to stay bad at something if you heed the advice mentioned in point "c." You will improve eventually.
e. failure doesn't have to be a negative experience.

okay, now you're ready to conquer that to-do list!