What Are You Avoiding

Why do some people avoid setting goals? It's simple. If there are no goals to be met, then there is no standard of measurement. There is no "in your face" accountability and we can "create" reasons as to why we have not accomplished whatever we've been talking about doing. We don't set goals because we don't want to look bad to ourselves. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Eric Hoffer: "We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves."

I know about this because for a while now, I have been avoiding the fact I need to lose some weight. Instead, I blamed the clothing manufacturers for making cheaper clothes that "don't fit right." I told myself, "Oh, they're cutting back on the material" or "They aren't pre-shrinking anymore." Or "You know? This bathroom scale was never calibrated right!"

You can see where this is going. The day finally comes and I walk into the bathroom thinking, "It couldn't be that bad." And then I step on the scale and "Holy ----! Yikes...it's worse than I thought!"

We need goals to keep us on track, to keep us from lying to ourselves and avoiding what needs to be done. We need to measure our progress or lack thereof so that we can adjust and get back on track.

Stop avoiding and start measuring! How are things on your life scale? Are you keeping track? Are you moving forward? Here are a few tips:

See yourself achieving the goal, being successful.
If you fail, so what? It's not the end of the world. Start over; remember, you've still made progress. It has been said a thousand times: The only true failure is quitting.
Post reminders for yourself.
Invest in yourself.
Avoid whipping yourself. If you mess up, do better tomorrow.
Buddy up. Find support.

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." ~ Michelangelo

Find A Way

Dennis