Fit-to-Fat-to-Fit Blog: Goals

Goal Weight: 195 lbs.

Ah, the ever elusive “Goal Weight of 195 lbs.” I lost 40 lbs. in the first 12 weeks of the year. Then I lost another 10 and have been in a holding pattern since.

The last three pounds have been taunting me.

Honesty moment: I’ve never been a good goal setter.  I’ve achieved great things in my life, but many of them because of persistence and dumb luck.  I’m so right-brained and this is one area where it really shows. Unlike Hannibal in the A-Team, I’ve never said, “I love it when a plan comes together.” Yes, I knew I wanted to become an editorial cartoonist. And yes, I did everything I thought I had to do to become one. And I achieved my dream. But I never said, “I’m going to do A by this date, B by this date and break C into micro goals to be completed by this date.”

I think of what I could have accomplished if I had been more focused.

Exercise is a great laboratory for goal setting.  You can learn, experiment and implement. Pick a goal like running a marathon, break it into smaller steps and the achieve each one of them. Like the old saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

My life has gotten way more complex and busy now.  I need goals, deadlines and self-motivation more than ever.  I’m going to take what I’ve learned from exercise goal setting and apply it into my daily life.  Creativity and discipline are going to have to learn to get along.

So it’s time to:

1. Take the time to set a big, measurable goal.

2. Break that goal into smaller, achievable goals.

3. Put dates on all of them.

4. Give myself a reward when I accomplish them.

5. Get busy.

My first goal is to start setting goals. My second?  I plan on losing those last pesky last three pounds.

Today is a “rest” day. I slept until 5:14 a.m. and it felt decadent. Usually I take Sunday off, but Saturday’s rain forced my long run to Sunday.