Meeting Your Goals

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”

— Arthur Ashe

A Harvard study found that we spend almost 50 percent of our time thinking about the past and future, instead of focusing on the present, which leads to increased unhappiness.

When it comes to self improvement goals, it’s easy to derail ourselves when we feel we’ve failed to reach a number on the scale, or fell off our goal of getting 10,000 steps in every day. Maybe we keep talking about starting a meditation or yoga practice, but never quite do. Whatever it may be, we often set ourselves up for failure.

Our minds tend to get stuck in the past or daydream about the future, instead of focusing on what we can do right now to improve.

You might sabotage your progress when you have one or a few bad eating days or struggle with the, “I’ll finally be happy when…” syndrome.

But if you shift your focus from the goal to the journey, your mindset completely changes. Instead of seeing a big goal as something that will be realized at some point in the distant future, you have smaller, steps that you can look forward to and act on today.

And these small steps carry a lot of weight. Small wins and slow progress multiplies and builds to create that elusive momentum. Psychology research has proven that small wins are powerful.

When you focus on the present you can ask yourself, “What can I do today that will help me reach my goal?” When you start to show up for yourself and the process, change begins to happen.

Consistency is key. To be consistent, you have to start with what’s doable. Maybe 10,000 steps a day isn’t something you are truly ready to commit to. But carving out 10 minutes each day to walk around the block can be. Your schedule might not allow for an hour yoga practice each day, but a few rounds of sun salutations each morning works. Build on that momentum.

It’s easy to get down on ourselves for what we don’t do. That’s why it’s so important to congratulate ourselves when we take a step forward towards being our best self.

I had cold and was feeling very sluggish last week. I started feeling discouraged about getting off track with my yoga practice and daily walks as my energy was so low. A few days ago the sun was shining and it was finally a warm day. I forced myself to get off the couch for a 30 minute walk. My accomplishment was small, but a big win for getting back on course. I honored my body with rest, but I didn’t let it become a prolonged excuse to get off track. I took advantage of the beautiful day and enjoyed the sunshine. I see that as a victory!

It takes time for new habits to become routine. Sometimes it’s one step forward, and two steps back. It’s a combination of giving ourselves grace and holding ourselves accountable. Setting ourselves up for success means creating small, obtainable goals and enjoying the feeling of those little accomplishments

When ritual becomes habitual, transformation happens!