These are my goals. Your goals need to be your own.

Remember goals must be compelling, but not impossible and to be effective;

GOALS HAVE TO BE MEASURABLE and measured.

How can you celebrate your successes if it is not established what a success is?

My Goals Are to be:

1) SLIMMER –Slimmer is not very measurable. Actual measurements would be better. Be positive and stretch limits, reach for the sky, but not beyond what you can believe. As long as I cannot believe it, it will not happen. I  am writing down several key measurements, waist, hips, arms, thighs and I WILL TRACK THEM! Being slimmer is also something I can visualize.

Visualizing your goal makes it easier to accomplish. I have already done something to help with this. Some people find a picture of a celebrity to look at to help them visualize[ The Gabriel Method, page 67-] This works for some, it may work for you; but not for me, not some movie star, with a different age, different bone structure. I had to modify the method to something I could believe. I took a picture of myself; printed it; then I cut out the extra me I no longer wanted. This is what I want to look like. This is do-able because the picture is me. When I get there, I will be beautiful.

2.) STRONGER – I want to be stronger. Fitter. Not a body builder, but stronger. How to measure that? Maybe  by being able to lift x number of pounds. Having a goal of a lifting a particular weight is not such a bad idea. It is measurable. But I don’t even have any weights.

How about being able to walk up 2, no 3 flights of stairs without huffing, puffing, panting or feeling the sting of fatigue in my legs.  These are things I can count and measure.

3.) FLEXIBLE – As you age it is real important to stay flexible, supple, to have good balance.

I do not know how to measure this in a reasonable way. I do not know where my physical limits are. So my goal will be to find 10 exercises that are designed to improve flexibility and DO THEM At least 3 times a week. That I can measure.

4.) HEALTHY EATING – Again, measuring this can be hard The goal cannot be a negative measure; like not eating any more chips. It needs to be measuring a positive improvement. Like eating a fruit at breakfast or maybe just EATING A BREAKFAST. I often skip meals because I get busy and honestly forget. Then I am hungry and overeat. Overeat on whatever is most convenient. So my goal is to have healthy snacks prepared that day before. Plan and Eat. This is measurable. Did I do it today?, yes or no.

5.) VITAMINS AND SUPPLEMENTS – These can be a bother. Who wants to eat a bunch of pills every day? Not I certainly. But I would much rather take vitamins now, than medication later. Then you are not just taking pills, you have some awful condition that requires pills to make life bearable. My goal is every morning, take a multi vitamin, some omega 3, a probiotic and digestive enzymes. I decided what supplements to take based on Jon Gabriel’s book, the Gabriel Method. (If my review of this book is not up when you read this, it soon will be.) This goal is easy to measure. You either do or you don’t.

Track Your Progress. It is easy to tell yourself you usually do when you only actually manage it every other day. WRITE IT DOWN.

Now I have goals in all the major areas of my health / fitness part of my life. Now comes the hard part.