Goal Setting for Glowing Good Health

by Bridget Jackson

Goal setting is the most important factor for moving your life in a direction that you truly want, one that makes you feel good and has meaning for you. This includes the five major areas of life: Self, Health, Wealth, Love and Spirit.

Most people who have not taken the time to set personal goals for themselves in these areas are content to drift with the tide. They’re the ones who are buffeted about by life’s changing circumstances, and they’re always scrambling to keep up.

Ironically, these are the very same people who complain the most! I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. They don’t read the writing on the wall, then they squawk when nobody reads it for them. The sad thing is, such people will never be truly happy until they finally take responsibility for where they are and chart a course for where they’d like to be.

You see, nothing that requires deliberate action can happen without a plan. It means thinking ahead. You can’t just drift your way into wealth, success or glowing good health. You have to want it, and you have to go after it. You’ve got to design your life in order for all the pieces to fit together.

For instance, let’s talk about that Health topic for a minute. If you don’t have good health, nothing else really matters, does it? The only thing you can think about is your physical condition, especially if it’s causing you pain. As you get older, those little annoyances can turn into big fat problems if you keep ignoring them – and you keep doing the things that contribute to them.

On the flip side, if you’re feeling great, you’re naturally enthusiastic, full of energy and ready to take on the world. Nothing phases you because you feel so good. This kind of good health doesn’t happen by accident, but it is achievable with only a slight effort. Let’s take a look at that.

Setting a Target for Good Health

It may seem obvious, but I’ll say it anyway. You want to make it your goal to be healthy, to look good and feel great. Planning ahead helps you get there, and tracking your progress will keep you motivated and focused on your goal. In fact, Goal setting is healthy for your body and healthy for your mind.

To keep a positive attitude, there are common sense things you can do to take care of your body. These things include eating right, drinking lots of water, getting the right amount of sleep, and getting plenty of exercise.

In the rush of everyday life, it’s all too easy to set aside tasks that don’t seem to make a big difference in the short term. What some people don’t realize is what a huge impact these things can have in the long term aggregate.

For instance, how many people do you know who don’t drink enough water? It’s the simplest thing in the world to do, but hoards of people are walking around chronically dehydrated. Their insides are about as dirty as a New York City sewer. All it would take to clean it out is a simple shift in attention: a small glass of water every hour.

The same is true with proper diet, exercise and a good night’s rest. People imagine themselves to be too busy to fit these things into their schedule. But being ill is much more time consuming. There’s only one person who’s really in charge of your time, and that person is you. So set a goal to take care of yourself. It matters.

Focus On Your Strengths & Likes

When setting goals, choose targets that you really want to reach – the things that you’re naturally drawn to. The best thing you can do for yourself is play on your strengths. Think about the things that you enjoy doing, then find a way to make them part of your life. After all, life should be fun, right? Think about the things you are good at, the things you just naturally like.

If you want to watch your waistline, come up with a list of foods that you love that also support your weight goals. Invest in some quality herbs and spices, and make sure you always have plenty of fresh, flavorful produce on hand.

If you want to increase your strength and stamina, identify activities that you love. There’s no point in heading to a sweaty, smelly gym to use an exercise bike if you’d rather be cycling outdoors with a fresh breeze in your face. Look for things you’re naturally attracted to that fit in with your personal goals. Find way for your plans to succeed.

Set time aside for yourself on a regular basis so you can do the things you enjoy, the things that are good for you. Set yourself up for success. Here are five steps you can take to set quality health goals, turn them into habits and create lifelong habits for success:

  1. Take stock of your good health habits. Where’s the commonality? How can you use these factors to create more health in your life? Write down the steps you can take to ramp them up.
  2. Come up with a concept of what homeostasis looks like for you – that state of glowing good health – and determine when you are going to reach it. This is now your long term goal.
  3. Decide on sub-goals you want to accomplish along the way and how long you need to accomplish them, thinking in terms of days, weeks or months.
  4. Set yourself up to begin working on your goal. Set up the project’s tasks on your calendar. Make a note of where you plan to be with each task and when.
  5. As you begin a project or complete a goal, track the progress and review your next steps. As you meet certain milestones, treat yourself to something special to reward your progress. If you find yourself running behind, you might need to pick it up a step or extend out the deadline.

Re-assess your goals from time to time. As you finish one goal, set a new one. Goal setting is not important, it’s essential for your success in each of the major areas in life. When you set goals and work through a plan for achieving them, you will be motivated to achieve more than ever.

When you choose goals that make you feel good and enhance your health, the total picture will open up for you.