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Sunday Update: Goals and Accountability

10359339_10203266108230165_889237671_oThere is great news from last week — I got four intense workouts in!  That was the goal, and the goal was made.  Goal setting does a couple of things:

Creates focus on where you are going.  You can say “I’m going to work out.”  There’s no call to action there.  Workout means what? How often?  Where”  I said “I’m training with Randy twice and by myself twice every week.”  Now I know I have to schedule the appointments in my calendar.  Randy will work me out and give me exercises to do the two days I’m by myself.  When the alarm goes off at 5:30 am I get up.  I don’t say “I can work out tomorrow” because I have an appointment.  I have laser focus.

It holds you accountable, if only to yourself.  At the end of the week you check if you reached your goals.  You evaluate why you did or why you didn’t.  If you’re smart, you’ll also be accountable to someone else (like I am to you dear readers).

The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it. ~Charles DeLint

My goals this week are:

  • work out with Randy twice (one already in!)
  • walk 10 miles on Friday, Saturday and Sunday each (won’t be hard, I’m volunteering at JunqueFest at Wilson Brewer Park and 10 miles will be accomplished easily!)

One of my goals is to post every Sunday.  I missed that goal this week.  I could have just skipped and said “next week I’ll write more.”  That won’t work will it?  I made an agreement to share my progress, frustrations and stories with you.  If I don’t do that, it’s a slippery slope.  It becomes easier to ‘skip’ a week and to also ‘skip’ the workouts.  So with hat in hand, I submit this post and ask for your forgiveness for the two days late.

Now let’s talk business.  This is primarily my business blog.  Writing about my journey towards health and wellness doesn’t at first look like business.  However, it is.  I believe that to be an effective business person you have to be a well rounded human being.  If I’m not taking care of myself, how does that reflect on how I take care of my business?  If all I do is work work work, how will I treat my customers who like to take some time off and have a life?  Goal setting is also an important part of a successful business.  Your business plan is a series of goals being set.  Your accountability to your business is very important.  Take a look at what you do for a living – are you setting goals?  Are you being accountable?  Are you laser focused?  Imagine what would be possible if you were!

I don’t care how much power, brilliance or energy you have, if you don’t harness it and focus it on a specific target, and hold it there you’re never going to accomplish as much as your ability warrants. ~Zig Ziglar