3 Tips on Goal Setting: The Rocky Road to Success

By Tammy LeBoss | thefitprofoodie.com

The Hero’s Journey

Goal Setting

Any time a new course of action or a new life challenge is chosen, obstacles will arise. Self-doubt assuredly will creep up. In goal-setting, seeing ourselves as being a part of the end result can seem as unachievable as it is daunting. While applying true grit, commitment and perseverance can achieve big, seemingly unattainable feats, having a clear road map can make the journey way easier. Grab your map and decide on a realistic goal or destination. Today, identify your specific goals and dreams, get started on a transformative call-to-adventure, and apply the following 3 tips:

1. Identify the Objective We need to first understand where we are and where we want to be. Be aware that arriving at a real answer oftentimes, means taking an objective, sometimes difficult look at ourselves. Setting our goals high is great, but it’s best to make them Specific, Attainable, and Realist (SAR). Taking a real honest look at what truly motivates us means we are making our goals, uniquely ours and not someone else’s. This is why it’s important to customize our course; define our specific goals, because if they’re not ours, they will always be illusive.
2. Chart a course but be prepared to go off-course During any path to success, the road can be rocky and unpaved. Preparing to go off-course must be in the mindset of the adventurer. This means, we must not become too fixated on the process. It’s important to keep in mind that it’s ok to go off course and it is natural to fall down. It’s how we pick ourselves back up and get back on course that will determine our success. Once we’ve understood the necessary course of action, we will need to remind ourselves continually of the desired end-goal. We need to expect that we will become discouraged or disillusioned. Thus, it’s important to consistently re-asses where we are and re-focus on our goals.
3. Expect obstacles and be malleable to change Recognize that our ability to adapt to the flow of change will greatly determine the rate at which our goals are reached.  In goal-setting, always expect regressions as being a natural part of progression. Symbiotically, one cannot exist or survive without the other. Remember, you’re on a great adventure. And, there is no great adventure without a few mishaps. Without mishaps, there is no contrast or texture. Living a life without contrast is not living; it’s just existing. When facing a roadblock along your journey, be malleable. Practice perceiving obstacles as scenic detours. You may become frustrated while on these detours. But, stay on course and it’s likely you’ll discover many great paths and treasures along the way.

So long as we’re doing, we can never really go backwards. Goal-setting like any journey worth experiencing involves a constant process of falling off, then getting back on. Understand that the forces that stand in the way are important turning points, and have little to do with our external environment. Most often, the only real obstacle is oneself.

What is your call-to-adventure today? What is rising up from deep within you that insists that you journey forward? On your next quest to uncovering your fullest potential, be a hero on your journey and know this: There is no such thing as failure; the only failure is ‘not-doing’. Just do and you’ve already succeeded.