Adding Teeth to Your Goals

We want our goals to take us somewhere, but the pathway to that 'somewhere' is often slippery.  That's why you made goals to help you get there.  And that's also why your goals need teeth!

3 WAYS YOUR GOALS CAN SLIDE
• For many, setting goals is simply an academic exercise, and the goals once set soon become invisible, and useless.  Some of my clients have had to re-acquaint themselves with the goals that they created in our meeting last week (!).  If your goals are not interrupting you from your reveries each day, they are not giving you traction, and you're sliding.
• For others, their goals are present, but not measurable.  For example, your goal might be, "I will eat less."  But even if you look at that goal every day, it probably just raises other questions for you: Less than what?  Less than yesterday?  Less than last month?  If your goals are not specific and measurable, they are not giving you traction, and you're sliding.
• Another way that your goal can deceive you is if it's out of reach.  You might think that a dramatic goal will ignite inspiration for you, but that inspiration can crash if it's unreasonable.  "I will spend $14.50 on groceries this month," may be dramatic, indeed, but the goal will soon be overwhelmed by reality, and lost.  If your goals are not realistic, they are not giving you traction, and you're sliding.

Good goals should be like a good friend: There when you need them, urging you toward the good, and grounded in reality.  Are your goals serving you like a good friend?