For me, Goals are an Acquired Taste.
I admit it – I do NOT crave vegetables. My wife and her mom always make a BIG salad when they get together. They make it seem like fun and get very animated. It is a “production”. I, on the other hand, seem to migrate over to the grill for the ribs. But ribs take effort too. There is all of this dry rub, secret mustard coating, hocus pocus involved so I concede that preparing ribs is a production too. The difference? One smells like smokey goodness. The other IS goodness. Much to my chagrin…
I will also admit I do not weigh what I want to weigh either and therein lies the problem. I know something must be done – I just do not look forward to a life without all the things that I love to eat!! Now for the best part – the hope in all of this – what I want can change 🙂
This past year I teamed up with a buddy of mine and we did a 21 day juice cleanse through a local juice company called Arden’s Garden. This process proved to me that my cravings could change. No Caffeine (yep), dairy, meat, sugar, alcohol, tobacco, white sugar, white flour or smoking. Well, my tastes began to change and I actually started desiring and enjoying eating (or drinking) something that also improved my health. I also lost 11 pounds and began to feel the difference in my joints.
So what does this have to do with goals?
I don’t naturally like goals either. Goals feel like eating vegetables. The unpleasantness comes right up front during the change and sacrifice while the results trickle in. Grumble grumble grumble. There is soooooo much chatter about goals this time of year and I am getting caught up in it. This year, though, is different! I have tasted momentum. And it is because of the 21 day juice cleanse success. It is also due to a time clock challenge I did during the first quarter of 2013 which resulted in our real estate team having the best year yet. Momentum makes all the difference. It is “getting over the hump”.
This year, setting goals was MUCH easier. Looks I am acquiring the taste 🙂 I went into 2014 goal setting with momentum and hope thanks to a sense of accomplishment from last year. One simple habit held over 90 days and 21 straight days of radical eating. I did not change the world but I did change my world. If you relate to this post at all my advice would be to pick one habit and decide to implement it for a quarter. One. ONE. ONE. The power of small sustained change is SO easily underestimated. And yet, it can change your entire trajectory. Pick the new habit that will make the most difference. For me, this year, it is getting up at 5:00am. That will set my day in motion the way I want it to.
Why sustain the new habit for a quarter? So you can remember where the finish line is. Keeping track needs to be easy breezy so you can devote all your energy to sticking to the habit. It will feel like war but success is oh so sweet! If I can do it, anyone can do it. Keep this simple. Embarrassingly simple. My prediction is that you will be so proud of yourself over one change that you will be able to make another change. And then another one.
All the best!
