Potential & Goals (17)

Dear Friend,

Are you someone who jumps out of bed ready to seize the day? Or do you prefer to curl up under your warm pile of blankets and pray that someone else will do everything for you. Perhaps, like me, you're a bit of both. I think my energy level depends on the day, the phase of the moon, and whether I have spent time cultivating my own worth.

There have been times in my life, more than I care to admit, where I have been made to feel 'less than' by others. I don't know if it was on purpose or on accident by careless people but they would take me for granted, underestimate me, quit on me and walk away or worse, not even show up. That's not a great feeling. It makes you feel small and unworthy. I hate that feeling because it's not true. Unfortunately, I have been treating myself that way, mindlessly, my whole life.

I have dreams and aspirations that have been sitting on a shelf in my psyche collecting dust ever since I was a kid. Every once in a while I'll retreat to that place and stare over at them. I'll find a little motivation and work towards building a bridge to reach one of them but then life gets in the way. My inner cheerleader gets tired or discouraged. I don't think anything evaporates motivation faster than fatigue. It's when I'm tired that I allow myself to feel less than. I forget how shiny my dreams are and I settle for what I'm doing.

The truth is I don't have a plan, friend. We all have dreams that are attainable if we believe in ourselves and set goals to help us from going off the rails with self doubt.

I stink at setting goals. My mind visualizes the end goal and thinks I need to just keep moving towards that goal, right? When I started my fitness journey I knew I needed to lose weight. I thought that was my goal but when trainers asked me, "What are your goals?" they wouldn't accept that as an answer because it's too broad. I hadn't thought about how I was going to do it, how long it would take, or how much I wanted to lose. I couldn't visualize a plan. I hadn't thought about the details of how I was going to accomplish my goal of losing weight.

Most weight racks in a gym have various sizes of dumb bells that go from left to right smallest to largest. When you first join the gym you can't just walk over to the weight rack and pick up the 50lb dumb bells to start doing chest presses. That's not realistic as a beginner. You would injure yourself and then never go back. The best thing to do is to start with the lighter weights. You do a certain number of sets for a few days until you feel like those weights are too light. Then you would slowly and steadily work up to your desired weight. 

I am finally understanding that this process works the same with setting goals. You have to set smaller smart goals to help propel you forward towards your main goal.

Smart stands for: 

Specific - write out clear concise goals

Measurable - the ability to track your progress

Achievable - set challenging yet achievable goals

Relevant - set goals that are relevant to your overall plan

Timely - the goal has a target finish time attached

Those smaller smart goals are where you will discover your true potential. Who knows, maybe your broad goal is just a beginning to something even more amazing that you haven't thought of yet! How exciting!!

We all have it, friend. We are all full of potential. What are you going to become? What are your goals? Remember, friend, a dream without a goal is just a wish. Stop rubbing the side of the lamp waiting for the genie to grant your wishes. Make a plan, set goals and let them be the bridge to your dreams. 

XO, Robin

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