What Goals Will You Set For Yourself? | Merrigan Group

November 12, 2012 by MaryEllen?

Goal? ? Noun: the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end | Synonyms:? target, outcome,?intention

Our family of seven didn?t set goals. We created New Year?s resolutions, Lenten intentions, and Advent ?angel? acts, but no ?goals,? per se.

After I attended a Nightingale-Conant seminar? in my early twenties, I began to set goals.

In a non-scientific way I studied goals. First, I worked with the ?SMART? acronym, ensuring my goals were each:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic/relevant
• Time-bonded

?What was I missing??

Even when my goals seemed SMART-perfect, I could fail.

I read books by?self-improvement gurus like Brian Tracy.

• ?Goals! How to Get Everything You Want ? Faster than You Ever Though Possible?
• ?Change Your Thinking Change Your Life ? How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement?

This led to practices like re-writing goals daily. Until recently, I had dozens of journals with page after page of handwritten goals.

Still searching for the ?Aha!? connection, I devoured Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander?s ?The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life.?

Then, a major success led me to realize a new mind-body connection.

My desire to lose weight once and for all caused me to enroll in a 90-day ?Body for Life? challenge.

Initially, I worked to integrate the meal plan with my lifestyle. (Body for Life encourages frequent, high-protein, small meals.)

It wasn?t until I understood the importance of food and exercise intensity in unison that I began to see significant results.

As my exercise intensity increased, I felt different. Instead of exhaustion after a workout, I noticed energy later in the day.

My commitment became a given approximately halfway through the challenge. I no longer questioned my reasons for participation or the probability of my success.

At the end of the challenge, I?d lost 17 pounds and more than 17 inches.

My physical transformation from a size 12 to a size 8 was significant. More importantly, my mindset altered forever, ?for life.?

You would think that this success mindset meant ?I got it. Repeatable. Guaranteed!? Not so.

I experimented, searching for the perfect mind/body connection that would ensure every goal acheived.

I tried writing my goal list, sealing it in an envelope and then, some months later, reconciling intentions with results. Sometimes the surprise was bigger than expected, as if to prove the thought could direct life actions.

Using short-bursts, such as 21-day goals, I modified habits and thoughts to accommodate my efforts.

When someone suggested I might be driven by goals, I dropped them for a time. No goals left me feeling less directed, less purposeful and less successful.

Obviously, goals fascinate me. Thanks to Tony Robbins, I?ve added clarity and purpose to my goals.

Brendon Burchard?s bestseller, ?The Charge? caused me to focus even more intently on directing goal achievement through mindfulness.

High Performance Academy, a live event from Brendon Burchard, took the goal process to yet another level, emphasizing that goals are about the journey, not the destination.

My conclusion: I plan to happily continue to think about, read about, and set goals. I?ll recommend goals for others.

In the words of Joseph J. Lamb:

The road to success leads through the valley of humility, and the path is up the ladder of patience, and across the wide barren plains of perseverance. As yet, no short cut has been discovered.

What goals will you set for yourself for the coming year?

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