A Goal Without a Plan Is Just a Wish

I know, I know... We hear it all the time 🙉 Stop the eye rolling and just consider this:

Declare Your Intention

• I'm gonna save up enough money to do a weekend spa getaway.
• When I lose 10 pounds I'm going to buy that cute dress.
• I'll take some holidays when work is all caught up.
• I'll start eating more healthy next week.
• Some day I'll have a side hustle that generates as much money as my day job.
• I'll spend more time with my family when things settle down.
• I'll start exercising when I have more time.

All of this sounds pretty awesome right? Who doesn't want at least one of these things? I bet you've said or heard something like at least one of these EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

One problem. Do you notice something they all have in common? 

There is no HOW. There is no THIS IS WHAT I'M DOING. Like magically down the road these things will just drop into our laps fully formed and ready to rock. So much "I'm going to", "someday", "I will". To actually get there what you really need are more "I am" and "today".  Seems overwhelming though right? 

Here's some steps to transform your wishes into actionable goals:

Start by brainstorming all your "I'm going to's" and "I should's" and jot them down. Order is not important, just pump 'em out.

Starting at the top, really look and consider each item. Is this something you really actually want? Or is this something you feel like you should want? Big difference here. You only have so much time and energy - and it should be spent on things YOU actually want. Not things you think you should want. Anything that's on that list because you think it's expected should be crossed out RIGHT NOW. Doesn't matter what it is. Pare it down to what you truly desire and would be actually willing to invest your time and energy in FOR YOU, not anyone else.

Take what's left and make a new list. 

Throw out the first list - it's full of other people's expectations not worth wasting any more of your precious time and energy on.  Feel free to crumple it, burn it, or tear it into tiny pieces if you like - it's amazing how much crap we internalize that really has nothing to do with ourselves!  Unfortunately if you've made your list digitally hitting delete doesn't bring quite the same satisfaction 😂 but if you did clear it out of your Recycle Bin too to permanently banish it!

Now we're getting into the nitty-gritty!  Looking at your new list (cause your old one is toast), are there things that really belong together?  

For example:

1. When I lose 10 pounds I'm going to buy that cute dress.
2. I'll start eating more healthy next week.
3. I'll start exercising when I have more time.

can be wrapped up into one definitive statement:

My goal is to lose 10 pounds through healthier eating and increased exercise and celebrate my achievement by buying that cute dress.

Hopefully now you've gotten things down to just a handful of statements.

Now we're at the hard part. The part where we need to take complete responsibility for our lives and the choices we make.  These things we want have made it through the vetting process and are sitting here staring us in the face... and now it's up to us to bring them to life. How do we do that? 

Small, actionable steps performed consistently over time.

Back to our example statement:

My goal is to lose 10 pounds through healthier eating and increased exercise and celebrate my achievement by buying that cute dress.

We have two general actions that work together towards one common goal - making healthier food choices and increasing our exercise. General isn't good enough - what SPECIFIC things are you going to do? Brainstorm time again!

Ideas to make healthier eating a reality:

1. Set aside a couple hours once a week to specifically plan, shop, and prep the food you are going to eat the entire upcoming week. Don't forget snacks!  Do yourself a favour by pre-choosing better snack alternatives and having them handy.
2. Do a cupboard purge - make satisfying that urge for a box of cookies a pain in the ass. Do you want them bad enough to change out of your pj's and run down to the convenience store?  Especially when you have delicious apples and peanut butter to dip them in right here?
3. Join a healthy meal subscription box plan.

Take a look at your ideas and pick ones that you can envision yourself doing. In this case we're going to pick combining ideas 1 and 2 as our example of what we think is reasonable for us.

For this type of action you are looking to make it easy to do what you really want, and hard to do what you are trying to stay away from. It is not something you are going to do daily - your specific action is to make an appointment with yourself (and anyone else in your house) once a week to purge, plan, shop, and prep in one shot for the entire week. You are making it easy to succeed, hard to slip up, and saving yourself all kinds of stress and aggravation while you do it.

The idea for this type of action is by investing the energy and time at the front end to set you up for success, you actually save yourself energy and time every day with the panicked "Ack! What are we doing for supper?" that sadly often ends in a fast food drive through because we see it as fast, cheap, and easy at what is usually a time of day where our decision-making and willpower is tapped out.  Instead you can be all "Oh good! Tonight we're doing chicken wraps - veggies and everything are already chopped up we just gotta throw the chicken on the BBQ and we're good to go"... and bask in your superior adulting.

Ideas to make increased exercise a reality:

1. Join a gym.
2. Walk to work.
3. Get a step counter and shoot for a step goal (there's lots of free ones available for your phone).
4. Hire a personal trainer.
5. Join an exercise class.
6. Buy an actual clothes rack and dust off my treadmill/elliptical/exercise bike.
7. Always park in the furthest spot from the door in any parking lot.
8. Subscribe to some YouTube channels that post stuff that looks fun.
9. Join a hiking/running club.
10. Always take the stairs instead of the elevator.

This one is a little trickier. You need to be SUPER honest with yourself. Do you need someone else to feel accountable to? Are you more likely to put it off if you have to go somewhere else to do it? Are you more likely to put a higher priority on it if you've spent money?

Again, take a look at your ideas and pick ones you can see yourself doing. For this example, let's say we know about ourselves if we need to go somewhere special to exercise we will avoid doing it unless someone is expecting us and we will let them down if we don't show. Plus we are pretty busy so we don't really want to commit to more than 2 hours a week for exercise.  Also, we know we get bored doing the same thing over and over so want some variety to keep it fun interesting.

Knowing these things about ourselves, we pick:

• Join a weekly 1 hour exercise class with a friend (preferable someone you would feel incredibly bad ditching).
• Join a hiking club that meets once a week (fresh air, new sights, different people to keep in interesting).
• Download a step counter app on our phone, or buy whatever wearable fit gear strikes your fancy if you like. Set a daily step goal and incorporate little things like taking the stairs, parking further away, walking to appointments, etc. to start building up your daily steps slowly but surely. For extra feels, there are apps donate to charities based on your steps! Check 'em out.

Looks like we are officially ready to make our actionable goal statement!

I am achieving healthier eating by cupboard purging, meal planning, grocery shopping, and meal prepping every Sunday morning between 10:00 a.m. and noon.

I am increasing my exercise by joining the Wednesday 7:00 p.m. spin class with my friend Sue and joining the Saturday afternoon hiking club.  

I downloaded a step counter app that donates to my favourite charity and set my goal as 6,000 steps a day which I will achieve by parking further away, taking the stairs and adding a quick walk around the building as part of my breaks at work.  When I hit 6,000 steps a day 3 weeks in a row I will up the goal to 7,000.

Once I have lost my 10 pound goal amount I am going to celebrate my achievement by buying that cute dress I've had my eye on!

Perfect! Small actionable steps to build into your life, several of which have a measure you can use to track progress against, and a celebration to mark the achievement of your goal.  The only thing this particular goal is missing is a timeline... But personally I don't like to add those pressures to goals that include things like weight loss as what we are really trying to build are healthy long term habits that compound over time without rallying up the 10 pounds by August 31st freak out.

And there you have it... Take your wish, break it down into the smallest daily or weekly actions you can and make THOSE your contract with yourself. One month, two months, six months, a year later you'll be amazed how far you've come - and don't forget to celebrate your transition from "someday I will" to "I DID"!