Goal Rehearsal Check In

Although it's been less than 2 weeks since my post about rehearsing a goal, am now checking in to see how you've been doing with working on your goal.

Have you decided on a goal to rehearse?

Have you broken the goal into 4 weekly milestones?

Do you have an accountability partner to support you with your goal?

Given that it's the holidays, it's understandable that your goal can be loss in the midst of holiday sales or fretting about holiday weight.  If you've gotten off track, see how you can get back on track with your goal.  Ask yourself why your goal is important to you now.

I'm supporting and cheering for you! 

Make It Specific..aka...China 2013

This post is for those of you who've decided to rehearse a goal this month.  Often times when I...I mean... when people set a goal, they're not clear on what their goal is.  However, the sad part is they don't realize that their goal is not clear.  For instance, a woman may say "I want to learn Chinese."  She knows that she wants to visit China in 2013 and figures that learning Chinese would help with her visit.  On the surface, this may appear to be a good goal but it needs some clarifying.  First, our budding language learner could decide which parts of China she wants to visit and find out which dialect is spoken there.  Next, she could determine if she wants to know enough Chinese to travel or if she has a more intense interest in the language.  Does she want to read, write and speak in the language?  How much time can she spend weekly or daily on learning Chinese? 

And that's just with learning a language!

Whether your traveling to China in 2013 or wanting to boost your fitness level, here are some general questions to consider:

How will you know when you've accomplished your goal? (This question is very important.)

What information do you need to reach your goal?

How much time can you devote daily/weekly to your goal?

If it's a material possession, can you describe its features?  Do you know how much it costs or where you could get it?

If you want to move or travel somewhere, which places do you wish to visit/live?  How much would it cost to live or travel there?  ("A lot" : ) is not an answer.  It may cost less than you think.  Research and determine an estimate.) 

Be sure to write down your answer to at least one of the questions related to making your goal more specific.  Your answer will help to make your goal more clear and it may even cause you to determine if your goal is still worthwhile.

A Goal Rehearsal

For readers of my newsletter, you'll already be familiar with the idea of a Goal Rehearsal which is basically doing a test run of your goal before the New Year begins.  Most of you all have probably had the experience of deciding on a goal for the New Year, e.g. losing weight, changing jobs, going back to school, and then letting the goal slide under the routine of daily living.  By rehearsing your goal now, however, you'll focus on one goal and make weekly make progress toward its achievement. 

What are the benefits to rehearsing your goal now?

By rehearsing your goal in December you'll focus on one goal instead of several.

If/when your commit begins to lag, you'll have the New Year to boost your momentum

Since you're rehearsing your goal, there's less pressure if you change your mind about achieving your goal.  Yes, that does mean that could make it more likely that you drop your goal yet even if you do, you can renew it in January or decide that now is not the right time for you to work on your goal.

Hopefully, start the New Year on an up note.  With your goal accomplished or progressing, you can trust yourself to set and achieve more goals in 2012.

Additional self-awareness.  You can review what kept you going or tripped you up in December and plan to do better in 2012.

Have one goal less for the New Year.  If you start working on your goal now, then you can possibly have one less resolution to make for next year.

So which will you choose?  To take action on your goal now or wait until January?

Upcoming Changes

Dear Blog Reader, 

Thanks for reading this blog.  I'll soon be launching a new website by January which I'll be sure to post here.  However, with the new site will come a new blog so this will be the last month that I'll be blogging for Optimal Habits.  If you're single, then be sure to visit my upcoming site--Don't worry, I won't be doing any matchmaking.  : )