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5 Successful Strategies to Setting Goals

By Lisa Olona

Weight loss and Health Goals Are Vital to Success

1. Focus on 3 goals at a time.
You want to choose enough goals to challenge yourself, yet you also don't want to overwhelm yourself with too many goals. Many studies have shown that people can remember things in three's. So set that magic number of 3 goals to help get you to where it is you want to go.

2. Be realistic and set a time frame.
It's important to set goals that will push you to reach another level. Although setting the bar high is important, it is equally important to to feel the success of reaching that goal. Also, give yourself a realistic time frame to reach that goal. If you're not sure what a realistic goal is, then keep it on the low side, and once you reach it you can set the bar a little higher the next time.

3. Set specific and measurable goals.
This is a very valuable key to remember. In order to know whether or not you have actually attained the goal you set for yourself, it will need to be a goal that you can measure. For example, simply stating, "I will run faster," is too vague and it leaves the question, "how much faster?" If you have a running time of 1 mile in 8:00 minutes and you want to "run faster," set a goal that let's you know whether or not you ran faster, and how much faster. So a specific, measurable way to say this is, "I will run my mile in 7:35."

4. State positive goals.
Notice in my example above I stated, "I will..." It tells my mind and body what it is I will be doing. It has been proven that we will remember the last few words we said. If you tell someone, "don't be late," then what sticks in their minds is "be late." If you tell yourself, "I won't eat doughnuts anymore," what sticks in your mind is eating doughnuts. So a good alternative would be, "I'm going to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins." That's positive, and now we need to make it specific and measurable. "I will eat 2 servings of vegetables a day." So say what you are going to do, as opposed to what you're not going to do. Be positive!

5. Post these goals where you will see them daily.
Seeing your goals on a daily basis is a great way to stay motivated and focused. It would be easy to get lost in the demands of each day. So it's important to remind yourself that you are striving for something valuable for yourself. I mean it must be valuable, because you took the time to set the goals. Now remind yourself daily of where you are headed! And you are headed there, because you can do anything you set your mind to!

About the Author:

Lisa Olona has helped hundreds of women lose weight and get into the best shape of their life. Read incredible success stories at her website http://www.NorthwestValleyBootCamp.com