Mind and Health

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours,” said writer-philosopher Henry David Thoreau. In his view, a life goal is essential for success and happiness in life, yet is different for everyone. To Thoreau, living devoid of technology and material possessions, simply soaking up nature and simplicity in an isolated cabin was his dream. To someone else, advancing the corporate ladder, getting a raise and being able to purchase comforts and status symbols might be a goal. To begin imagining your dreams, all you need is a quiet place, a pen and a piece of paper.

Try this life goal setting exercise to get yourself on the right path. List the areas of your life you’d like to work on, along with five subsequent objectives. It could be your health, career, finances, relationships, hobbies, spirituality or your behavioral/personality traits. Then, rate each area on a scale of 1-10 (1 being least satisfied, 10 being most satisfied). For instance, your life goal list for health might include weight loss, physique, eating habits, health and habits. On your satisfaction level list, you might admit that your weight satisfaction level is a 5, and that you’d like to lose 20 pounds. Your physique satisfaction might be a 6, as you’d like to build muscle with weight training two days per week. Your eating habits might be a 7 because you need to eat smaller portions. Your health could be an 8 because you’re generally happy but you know your cholesterol is a bit high. For your habits, you may be at a 10 because you are now going to the gym three days a week like you wanted to.

Once you have everything written down, one predominant life goal will likely emerge. Have you put career first and let your health languish? Or have you been so preoccupied with your relationship that you lost sight of your career goal of running your own business? Look at some of your long term goals and list the short term goals you must accomplish to get there. Then determine an appropriate timeline in which to meet your objectives. For instance, your long term goal might be to run a five-minute mile. First, you must set up a training schedule of 5 days/week. Then, you must try to run a mile without stopping. Then you can try to shave off a minute here and there to reduce your time from 10 minutes down to five. You can try training with weights to feel lighter or change your diet slightly to include more protein and energy-boosting foods. Whatever your plan of attack may be, looking at manageable, written goals will help you accomplish them.

An important part of achieving your life goal is staying motivated. Once you mark down your long and short term objective, you will want to write a list of reasons why you want to make this change. Later, when you feel your motivation waning, you can look at your list of reasons and remind yourself why you must keep working toward your personal goal setting task. Think about why the change is needed and what would happen if you did not change. Think about how much your life will improve once the change has been made and you’ve reached your goal. Keep these lists handy for whenever you need them. It’s also important that you’re honest with yourself and keep a positive frame of mind.

About the post writer:

Sand James, born in 1967 enjoys writing on a variety of self improvement methods that can bring a higher slandered of life to many.

For a living, Sandy is a cellular phone plans aggregator for one of the major cell phone carriers. Cellular phone plans change at an ever increasing rate. http://cellularphoneplans.org is worth a visit as it holds the latest news and information on cellular phone plans.