My 2011 generally sucked. And it sucked for many reasons, lots of them outside of my control. But I sort of think that blindly wishing for a better year this year without making any plans to accomplish this is kind of, I don't know.............short sighted faulty logic?
I get that some things are so huge & so horrible, they just need to be coped with the best they can while they push all other plans out of the way. But not formulating an action plan to achieve your objectives, whilst expecting those objectives to just materialise is nuts. I like to make resolutions. I don't always keep them, but I like to make them.
So, again, my goal setting process and how it applies to 2012 for me.
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- Think about the Big Picture Objectives I want to achieve. This year I have 6, but for brevity's sake lets talk about 1 - Be Healthy.
- What are my Goals surrounding being healthy? What does Being Healthy mean to me? It means;
- reducing my weight
- proactively managing diabetes, &
- reducing stress.
- What Strategies am I going to use to achieve those Goals?
- reducing weight means diet & exercise, yay.
- managing diabetes means I need to plan for taking all of my medication (even when there is a national shortage), as well as going ahead with a new medication my Doctor talked to me about last time I saw her.
- Reducing Stress is a tough one, it seems to be my natural state of play. 3 strategies I can do are to do yoga, try & do daily meditation, & continue seeing a psychologist.
- How will I know these Strategies are working? How will I Measure their effectiveness? to be honest, I don't like the stress of a 'Measure'. If I am doing the Strategy, then it should fall into place. So to expand....what Resources do I have to help me out/fall back on when the going gets tough? There is no point just writing 'will power' because that is always faulty..
- Diet - be stricter on portion sizes, choose high quality carbs, minimise junk & eat well - Don't skip any meals. I can go to Weight Watchers if I want (I don't want to, yet). I can buy scales. I can use a smaller plate & divide the portion sizes off if I want. (maybe..)
- Exercise - continue walking at least 4 times per week, even more if I can. Try 1 new thing every month - zumba, karate, pilates...yoga counts here too.
- Managing Diabetes. I'm pretty good at talking meds when I am supposed to, but I am always surprised when I run out, so I plan to diarize script requirements so that I can be on top of it. Talking this new medication will require a lot more blood testing & insulin adjustment I think, which will require more attention.
- Yoga - I personally know 2 excellent yoga instructors but still can never find the time to do it. I need to commit myself to a prepaid 10 class pass to make sure I go. If I really really can't get there, I do own a yoga DVD, & there are lots of yoga classes on YouTube.
- I like the Psychologist I am currently seeing but only have 4 free appointments left on my health plan, so I need to think about the exact areas I want help with & divide that into 4, to ensure I can maximise my time with her. Note to self - don't hold back.
- Meditation. Yeah, my head doesn't like this. But I keep reading everywhere how brilliant it really is for stress reduction, so I should at least give it a good try. I can buy a guided meditation DVD, & start with a few minutes a day. Maybe in 6 months I will throw in the towel, but maybe I will be a stress free convert to meditation.
Do you like this method or is it too hard? I find that concentrating a bit of focus now sort of sets me up for the coming year, & unless there are major external influences, it keeps me on track. I normally do this on my birthday each year (because it is the beginning of my year) but 2011 was such a shit fest that it blew all of my objectives off course. My 2012 objectives are very much a continuance & expansion on my 2011 ones.
Do you have any resolutions for this year, & do you have a process for planning them out?
xx