January 22, 2010, Newsletter Issue #15: 7. Set Goals That Inspire You

Tip of the Week

You can change a goal. Sometimes life throws you a curve, and you really can’t achieve the goal at that time. Modify it, make it a win for yourself. Change it up to something more manageable.
Judy learned that her husband-to-be was scheduled for surgery, and unforeseen surgery that was quite serious. Yet, she was doing so well on her fitness plan that she kept pushing herself to get the 1 hour aerobic workout done every day, just as she had been before the diagnosis.
Only, she wasn’t accounting for the additional stress. Luckily, she was a member of a gym and used an expert there to help guide her. The advice was to let go of the “goal” for a pre-determined time. In this case, she new her fiancé would be back at home in 7 days, so the added time at the hospital would be removed. She could resume her elliptical workouts when he came home.
By assessing the situation and giving herself permission, again, in a time-limited fashion, she could get back to her exercise without setting herself up for failure. The failure would have been not meeting her goal of everyday fitness; the permission decreased the stress, which is also a health risk. Increased stress could have left her with poorer health habits (extra wine or mood swings) that would be more injurious to her health, and that would have taught her that exercise increased her stress levels. These are all negative reinforcements that are harder to overcome.
Set yourself up to win.

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