subject: Tell Joe About Your Goals - A New Way To Track Goals [print this page] OK, so I have to admit that I'm a consummate goal maker. Yes, I love creating new projects, plans and activities to engage in (and Ideal Balance is one of my favorite creations:). And I relish the month of January. I use it as a time to set new intentions, visualize, make connections and receive lots of guidance and inspiration.
But I find sometimes that I get caught in one of two scenarios. See if this happens to you as well.
One, you have so many new ideas, visions and goals that you can't seem to keep them all straight. You decide to exercise every day, eat certain meals, meditate, stop watching TV so much and work on getting a new job. You doggedly work with them all for three or four days or even a week. Then you just get tired of keeping it all straight in your head. Before long it becomes overwhelming to figure out what to concentrate on each day - so instead you just do nothing.
Or two, you have one or two great new goals that you do for a week and then you just seem to lose focus on them. All of your good intentions start to dissipate, first one or two days at a time and then more. Soon you are back with your old habits.
Before you beat yourself up, please realize that change is a gradual process - relapses are not only normal, but they are necessary. The growth line is not straight; it curves forwards and then back a bit and then forward some more. One of my clients, a therapist, once explained that it is perfectly normal and necessary to relapse into old behaviors in the process of growth and change. So please be easy on yourself in the growth process.
The key is to just keep going. It is continuous action that moves us forward, even despite the relapses into the old every now and then.
So how do you stay continually motivated and inspired? Here is my new favorite goal tracking system - Use Joe's Goals: www.joesgoals.com. At Joe's Goals you can make positive goals that are daily or weekly and give yourself points for accomplishing each goal. You can also create negative points for habits that you want to try to reduce. Finally, you can create journal entries for items that you want to write details about, such as workout plans.
Here is the best part: you can share your goals via e-mail with others. They can log in to Joe's Goals and see how you are doing. This is the best way to create a fitness challenge with your best friend in California or eat healthier with your mom in North Carolina. You can hold each other accountable without having to create specific talking times.
I use Joe's Goals at the end of each day to check off the new habits that I am trying to create and the old ones I would like to continue. Currently I'm working on daily longer meditations, time blocking more efficiently, and doing more yoga.
Log on and create some goals for the month of January. Make one goal an easy goal that you know you can do each day - five minutes of deep breathing or a positive affirmation each day. That way you have something positive to credit yourself with daily and have a reason to go to the site each day.
Commit to recording your goals for the next 30 days. Shoot me an e-mail and let me know how it is going at Monica@idealbalanceinc.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I'd love to post some success stories in the next newsletter or on the new blog
