Goals: Why They Are So Important In Regards To Health

Posted by Brandon Harshe on December 19, 2007

January’s previous post briefly touched on the importance of goals, as well as her own personal goals. I want to go into a little bit more depth about goals in this post, but I’m going to apply it to health.

Goals are important. Without goals, we tend to just go through life without any enthusiasm, just going through the motions. That kind of life is very unfullfilling, and can lead to outright misery with everything you do. I know I’ve gone through periods of time where I didn’t have goals, and I would wonder why my life was so bland and frustrating. Not having a destination is the same as being lost, and being lost is no fun. Being lost will get you into a situation that you don’t really want to be in, whether it’s the wrong career choice, the wrong schooling, the wrong spouse, etc.

A good friend of mine recently visited with his wife and their three kids from Utah. He and I went to school together in Dallas. I remember him being so happy and carefree, while willing to challenge ideas and concepts with professors and other students. But this last weekend, after not having seen each other in about six months, he just seemed beaten down with his job and bummed out about where he was in his life. We got into talking about what we wanted out of life, and the more we talked, the more I realized he didn’t know what he wanted out of life. He didn’t have any goals. I told him this I harped on him about this and he realized that was the problem. He has since come up with some goals, and he sounds a lot better because of it.

Setting goals properly… At least, in my opinion

When we set goals, we should write them out. Put them up somewhere you can see them everyday, whether it’s on your bathroom mirror or the refrigerator or a 3"x5" index card you carry with you in your pocket. When we do write them out, they should always be written out in the present tense. An example is something like "I am running 2 miles a day, every single day, in January." When you write it out in present tense, it reads as an affirmation and eventually gets planted into your subconscious mind permanently.

When writing out a goal, a good tip to keep in mind is the 30-day trial. When I read this, it made a lot of sense to me. First, you set a goal and you stick with it for 30 days. If you don’t like it anymore after 30 days, or if your goals have changed, fine. But at least you stuck to it for 30 days. That’s important for gaining momentum with your confidence. It takes 21 days to form a habit, so just hedge that habit with an extra nine days.

I’m currently on a 30-day trial with exercising. Everyday, I’m running at least two miles in the morning, and I’m doing one set each of push-ups, pull-ups, and crunches, each until failure. I’m going to see how that goes, and if I like how my body feels, I’ll keep it up. I figure if Wayne Dyer ran 10-15 miles every single day for 22 straight years, I can do it for a measly 30 days.

We can start out with small goals, such as walking 20 minutes every day, to bigger goals, like running 5 miles every day. It doesn’t matter as long as the goal has been set. It will give us the confidence to push ourselves farther than we thought possible. For example, if you set to walk every day, it will be difficult in the beginning. Once it gets easier, you can upgrade to jogging, When that becomes easier, you can upgrade again to all-out running. For example, right now I’m only running two miles. In a month, that will probably be at least three miles, but more than likely, four or five miles.

The same goes with eating. First, start out by incorporating more fruits and veggies into your diet. Once you start feeling more energetic and regular, you might decide to cut out fast food. Then you might decide to eliminate red meat from your diet, and so on and so forth. The more you do it, and just push through those first few hard days, the easier it will become, and the more confidence you will have.

So, when you figure out your goals, write them down in present tense, carry them out (for 30 days), and upgrade whenever possible. If you do these things, you’ll soon be riding a confidence snowball with so much momentum, people won’t even recognize you.