Didja Set Your Goals Today?

Goals.  Just that single word alone can cause anxiety in some people, but I feel that they are essential to living a full and complete life.  I can find few things that can give such a feeling of accomplishment other than meeting a goal that you've set. There are long-term, short-term, and temporary goals.  I think you have to use a mix of all three.  I have daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and lifetime goals.  My daily goals are things that are more tangible, such as Get the laundry done; Go to two classes at the gym today.  I have my weekly goals that are things that are still pretty easily manageable, but could take a little work.  For example, Go to ZUMBA every day this week; Finish scrubbing the walls; Meditate each morning for at least 5 minutes before getting up are all examples of weekly goals that I've set for myself.

Then, I set goals that take a little longer to accomplish.  These are the tougher ones; ones that I find can be a bit of a challenge.  Even though they are a challenge, they still need to be reasonable.  Too often, people set goals that are impossible unreasonable and get disappointed when they don't meet them.  Why set yourself up for failure?  I mean, setting a challenge for yourself is one thing, but make sure the challenge is do-able.  Usually my yearly goals are tied to my resolutions for the new year.  Last year, I set a yearly goal that I would attend Weight Watchers for a full year, and that's just what I did.  This year, I joined a gym the first week of the new year, and I'm still going 8 months later.  So far, so good!  Yearly goals don't have to begin in January- in fact, I have begun my own "Happiness Project" (a book by Gretchen Rubin) and it's a year-long project that I just began in July.  We'll see where I'm at with it next July.

Some of the most important, soul-changing goals are those lifetime ones.  These are the biggies; the ones that are tough but are amazing if you accomplish them.  These are the wishes and dreams that you can make happen.  My past lifetime goals?  Become a teacher.  Get married.  Become a mother.  Get my Master's Degree.  Buy a house.  My upcoming ones?  Well.... those are still a work in progress, and I'm happy to report that they are coming along nicely.  :)  How about you?  Do you set goals for yourself?  If no, then why not?  I encourage you to make yourself some goals, short- and long-term.  What's the worst that could happen, right?