2019 Goals – How are you doing so far?
Hi everyone,
I have been encouraging acquaintances who are using my tips for achieving their 2019 goal, to follow me on Facebook, but no luck so far. So instead I asked them if I can share their stories with you. I, therefore, have to start by saying thank you to those who agreed. I will keep encouraging them to follow me on Facebook, so that they can share their stories themselves. It’s so much more authentic.
That said, here goes. I will call them my case studies.
I am going to call them Client A, B, and C. Between them their New Year’s Goals are 1. Giving up smoking (get fitter) 2) Losing weight (get fitter), and 3) Becoming self-employed. Seemingly very different goals, I know, but all concerned with their wellbeing. I would ask you to keep on how the various techniques I will show you, can apply to all goals
If you’ve followed my post since the 17 December, by now you will have had the opportunity to;
- make an assessment of key areas of your life, using the wellness wheel. This process helps you identify any area/s you still want to improve.
- get a notebook in which to journal your progress and capture thoughts, ideas as well as well identify strategies for overcoming obstacles that work for you. Working with this Journal first thing in the morning and the last thing at night is extremely important to keep you on track and focused.
- be regularly undertaking a visualization technique to communicate to your subconscious “exactly” what the goal looks like.
If you are determined to achieve your goal. The next thing is to write it down. Most people know the SMART technique. The visioning technique helps you to visualize in detail exactly what it will be like when you achieve your goal.
Be Specific – Being Specific is essential in visualizing what you want to achieve. If your goal is weight loss. It would work better if the goal is not about how much weight you lose, but about how you will look, what you will be wearing, how attractive and confident you will feel. Those are the images you should be seeing in your visualization technique. Your visualization should make you feel good, happy, attractive. If your visualization is about you being in a bikini on the beach, then your written goal should be about wearing a red, size # bikini on holiday in Spain in August 2019. I hope that gives you an idea. The goal is also measurable and time-bound. Only you can say whether it is realistic and achievable based on your current circumstances. Notice I say circumstances and not “current weight”. Experience shows that it is usually life circumstances, significant others, and events which are likely to be the obstacles to your goal.
* * *
So to my cases and their progress.
Client A – Goal: Give up Smoking. She visualizes herself being able to walk back and forth to work about a mile without feeling like she needs oxygen each time. It currently takes her about 30 minutes. She is using here current time a baseline to measure progress. This is a great goal because she has attached a “good feeling” to its achievement.
Two weeks into the year, she reports cutting down the number of cigarettes she is smoking. She is feeling good about this achievement rather than feeling guilty that she has not given up cigarettes altogether (cold turkey) from Jan 1. She feels this gradual reduction is sustainable. She found using the visualization of her future self to be the most helpful technique to her.
Client B – Weightloss Goal. She has identified her household situation and significant others as a major stress contributor to her overeating. The challenge here is for Client B to establish a space in her life for herself . It doesn’t mean she stops helping others, but that she has reprioritizing her needs upwards. Her challenge is to take back control of her time, by saying ‘No’ a little more often. In essence to valuing herself more. We are starting with self-care e.g. getting a good night’s sleep. Establishing a night-time routine that will see her in bed between 10 p.m and 11 p.m, waking each morning, between 6 and 7 am having had a good night’s sleep. Yes, she will have my Sleep Serene Essential Oil blend to aid her sleep each night. Her challenge is to set out her bedtime routine in advance, set an alarm clock to remind her to start and then to follow it. This is not as simple as you think. Breaking a habit never is. To help with the sleep she is aiming to abstain from eating after 8 pm each evening. She has also undertaken to drink between 1.5 to 2 liters of water per day as well as take a herbal supplement to reduce food cravings. She will be abstaining from alcohol. The focus is on sleep.
So far it has been a bit hit and miss. At first (first two weeks) her sleep was more interrupted as she found herself going to the toilet during the night. Her bedtime has moved from 2.30 am to about 12 a.m. The client reports she has started to dream again. She hardly ever eats after 8 pm. She finds it useful to have established this rule.
Client C – Self-Employment Goal. This client is a highly resourceful person, however, establishing yourself as self-employed is an extremely challenging undertaking. Her goals are very project orientated, as she wants to make the maximum progress to income generation. This client is supermotivated, regular meditates, juicing is a daily habit and exercises daily, so the challenge is not in that area. The challenge for her is when it comes to family responsibilities and significant others. Being highly resourceful and optimistic, her main challenge is herself. She has huge expectations of herself and can set herself unrealistic goals. Our focus here is on the planning and assessment of activity. Our focus here is time management. This means being very specific about the end goal and the specific steps and when they needed to be taken. We have undertaken exercises breaking down the activity of each major step in the approach of developing products/services and then reviewing them regularly. You may recognize this as a project management approach. Progress is good so far in that after each session the client builds on what she has learned as is making super-fast progress in what she is achieving. Everybody wants a client like this.
* * *
Can you see how although goals are very different, the issue of self-value keeps cropping up?
Did any of these examples cover your ambitions for 2019 or the challenges you are facing? If not, drop me a line and let me know what your specific challenges are. My aim is to cover the most common goals set.
