Starting a new goal

Today is the day. You've decided you're going to start working on that new goal. You know what it is you want. You've visualised the outcome and what it will look like after you've finished - and you have a sort of plan to get you through the maze.

And then reality sets in - you're not going to have time to do ALL that. No way will you have time to fit all the new tasks and bits and pieces in AND do everything you currently do. And that is where most goals fail. People see what needs to be done and quite frankly it scares them witless - so they decide (rightly or wrongly) that they're quite happy with what they've got thanks very much.

Now, there are some of you reading this who will have no idea what it's like to be faced with that kind of paralysing fear. They're goal setters and more importantly - goal achievers. Which can also be a bad thing sometimes when you have a fixation upon what you want to the detriment sometimes of everything else.

OK, lets just stop a minute. A goal doesn't have to be completed in five minutes - if it were, then you've just completed a task - not a goal item. A goal is a journey. You begin, you get diverted, you encounter road blocks and you keep on trucking for mile after endless mile. Take dieting and exercise - day after day of eating less than your body uses in fuel. Learning how to run a hundred metres, then two hundred...then a kilometre, then 5 km's - it takes time and it takes a lot of effort.

But to put any goal into any kind of perspective I use my house as a constant reminder. Every day I have to do some kind of maintenance on it. Dishes, putting shoes away - that sort of thing. And most goals are like that...you do a little bit every day, consolidating on yesterday's cleaning and tidying, and yes sometimes going back over the same ground until you are able to make inroads into whatever it is you are trying to achieve. But if you try and clean the entire house in one day, all you end up with is a sore back and frayed nerves (or is that just me?) - and you may be tempted to cut the corners a little.

So, break down your big goal (cleaning the WHOLE house) into manageable tasks (each room) add a little bit of time and effort and - goal completed.

So is today the day you "clean house"?

With many thoughts