Goals, Milestones, End Games and Results....

I've been reading many blogs which talk about goals.  Goals....  I've been thinking about that word lately...  Goals...  I've set many goals in my life - some I have achieved, others...  not so much.   What is a "Goal"?  And, why do we set the bar for ourselves, so to speak?  Better yet..  What is so important about goal-setting?  And, why do I sometimes fail to reach a goal I've set for myself?  Heady questions..  Not sure I know the answers either....

Personally, I find most goal setting to be a recipe for my failure.  I love saying that my goal is to lose one hundred pounds before New Year's Eve - will it happen?  Not unless I get a major limb removed - along with a few major organs as well..  Being diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has taught me that goal setting is relative.  Relative to our own desires AND our own capabilities.  For me, if I set a goal - and come within millimeters of achieving that said goal by the date that I've set for the goal to be achieved, and do not achieve it - means that I've failed, simple as that.  I did not do what I originally intended to do - in the time I've allotted myself to do it in.  It's a head thing, and it brings any success that I've had to an abrupt halt.  Which is why I said that I find that most goal setting to be a recipe for my failure. 

Goals are extremely important to me though.  Without setting goals, I tend not to push myself.  I settle.  I give up.  I make excuses, and ultimately, I fail.  After my initial diagnosis of RA though, I've had to learn to readjust my thinking about goal setting  I had to learn to strive to achieve and appreciate the outcomes of my goals rather than get caught up in the numbers, dates and time of those goals.   My very dear friend, and a fellow RA patient, really opened my eyes about goal setting and living a full life with an autoimmune disease.  RA isn't a typical arthritis.  It can affect organs and tissues other than joints.  I'm not down-playing the seriousness or the pain of arthritis as I experience Osteoarthritis as well.  RA is an autoimmune disease - which means my body literally attacks my joints as a transplant patients body attacks a new organ inserted into the body.  My immune system has gone haywire and literally behaves as though my joints are a foreign body and does not belong in its little clique  So, it fights to rid me the evil joints.  Anyway, I'm getting somewhere with this, honestly...  My friend suggested that I set one - and only one - simple, easy and attainable goal to begin each day.  The goal didn't have to be rocket science or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, but one that I know that no matter what, I can achieve.  "Because," she said, "the day that I refuse to get out of bed because of pain, is the last day I would have..."  Scary and horrible thought.  Anyway, I got to thinking..  "One small goal..."  "just one..."  "one to begin each and every day.."  So here it is.  My daily goal may not be to achieve world peace, to find a cure for a devastating disease, or anything that is extraordinary or even earth shattering for that matter.  My daily goal is to get OUT of bed, make my bed, and brush my teeth.  Anything above and beyond that in my day is pure gravy and I'm ahead - I find that I work harder to get even more ahead after that!  But, that's it.  Simple as that.  That is my daily goal.  Believe it or not, about sixty percent of the time that is an enormously difficult goal for me to achieve.  But, I am proud to say that for the past five years I've come out ahead on this one, joints be damned! 

Lesson taught?  Set yourself up for victory...

I think the moral of this ramble is that I believe we need to set goals that we can literally SEE and BELIEVE ourselves capable of achieving, and not set ourselves up for failure.  I'm not suggesting low balling our goals - but to set goals that lift us rather than tear us down.  Failure leads us right back to where we started.  I believe in setting goals that we can FEEL and UNDERSTAND how incredible the victory will taste.  This will motivate us, will make us strive to reach the goals we have set - whether it means getting into that size we never thought we'd be in, running the race we never thought we could possibly do, or just being able to run, play, and laugh with our children and grandchildren - without grasping for jet paddles or the nearest oxygen machine!  Whatever your dream or goal may be - see it, feel it, dream it, and believe how incredible the victory will be!  For me it's not about whether or not I've gotten somewhere by this or that particular date on the calendar - but that I've ultimately earned that victory by my will and determination - period.  That is what is important to me.  I may not come in first place - I may even come in last, but finish I will.  Untimately, a healthier, happier me with enormous pride that I achieved this - goal..  And, most importantly, that I did it for me, not because some arbitrary date on a calendar said that I had to, or some number on a scale told me that I succeeded... 

That is what goal setting now means to me...

Until next time!