Attainable Goals
June 27th, 2005 by Y.G.Quite often now, after months of researching all these diet-related matters, I’ve seen the topic of “setting goals” come back. An interesting and very fragile thing, it is: not setting any will sooner or later allow relapses, while being too strict with one’s goals may lead to failure just as well. Where is the middle-ground? What can be considered as attainable and efficient goals, that won’t make us all frightened by the hugeness of the task?
“I need to lose 70 pounds” is a very overwhelming thought. Sure, in the first days or even weeks of starting this diet that will be the last, when we’re all pumped up and hyped about making the necessary changes, we feel like we can battle the world and do it in one painless stride, reaching the goal with a bright smile on our faces. Then months start to pass, and we’re left with the ineluctable feeling of defeat - “I’ll never do it, it’s too much”. There’s the rub - a doable task suddenly seems impossible to achieve because we envisioned it in its global aspect, leaving very little room for anything else than “succeed fast and without bumps, or give up”.
What about breaking it in smaller steps? What about losing pounds ten by ten, rejoicing every time one of these steps is reached, until we get to our goal? This goes for exercise as well (or for many other things in life, come to think of it). Is the decision of doing 90 minutes of exercise a day, regardless of health and weather, really such a good thing? What about, rather, exercising four days a week for half a hour, and whatever else we can do on top of it will necessarily be an improvement and success that will cheer us up? Circumstances aren’t always on our side, and high goals that we fail to fulfil can so easily turn into an all-or-nothing thinking. I failed to exercise exactly 90 mins a day this week - might as well give up, I’ll never do it. Once again, overwhelming, discouraging, more likely to seem like an impossible task on days when we have it rough.
Remember: it’s not about deliberately blinding oneself regarding the very end goal… just about breaking it in several, smaller, more attainable steps. All’s in the eye of the beholder, and if success depends on such small tricks, why not take opportunity on them?
In the words of Krista, “Every big goal must be broken down into smaller goals or the project will be so enormous and vague that you won’t be able to achieve it.”
