If you have tried to diet before and failed you probably overlooked the importance of setting Goals. If you look back and look at all these things you achieved in your life before you will probably notice a common pattern. For most of these things you not only had a specific objective in mind but also a complete step-by-step plan for how to get to this goal. So what has this objective settery to do with dieting?
First and obviously it is very hard to reach your goal if there is no objective in the first place. Without knowing your final destination how do you suppose to know which direction you have to go in order to get a healthier body? There is no possible way for you to know this. So believe me when I say that setting Objectives is not only the first but also the most important step to success.
Setting Objectives for your diet gives you a goal arbiter which helps you see your progress on your road to success. This is necessary for you to see if your efforts are paying out or not or if you have to change what you are doing. To summarize, with the help of a goal you will be able to evaluate if you have to kick up a gear or if you are right on track with your diet.
Ok by now you should be persuaded that setting Objectives for dieting is beneficial – the next step is to actually talk about how to go about setting these Objectives. The Objectives you set for yourself should be within possible reach and not defy reality. With impossible to achieve Goals the only thing you achieve is setting you up for failure. It won’t take long for your subconscious to see that it’s impossible anyway and you are back to square one. If you want to know what objective is reasonable, make sure to look around in your circle of friends and acquaintances. Make very sure NOT to look at the news and especially not and advertisements for diets as they are over hyped.
Being specific with what you want to achieve is another important factor for good Goals. Rather than going for the long shot and trying to loose 60 pounds around summer next year, go for very specific and measurable numbers like ten pounds in one month. After you achieved the small and short term goal of ten pounds, you can set another small and short term objective of ten pounds. See what I am getting at here? If you can lose 10 pounds once, what deters you from doing it once more? And again? Nothing, that what. Welcome to my lesson on how to fool your brain. Small Objectives are easier to achieve. Striving for smallish Objectives more often gives you sense of achievement more often. That’s why it works so well.
If you manage to miss one of your Goals by any amount, don’t just give up on the whole thing either. The solution is to find out what went wrong and make adjustments. Either to your behavior or your Objectives. Maybe the objective was too hard to achieve? Modify it down.
Also really important: If the objectives are not your personal wish but just imposed on you by other people you are not likely to succeed. Only Objectives you set for yourself and Goals you really WANT to come true are the goals you likely succeed in achieving. If you are not interested in achieving that objective yourself, you can also just stop reading now and do something else.
What helps a lot of people in sticking to their Objectives is to reward themselves for every milestone. In the dieting case, avoid food as reward! Use something that you look forward to that you can’t or don’t allow yourself to regularly buy or do. Like a pedicure. Or a massage. And this, my friend, is how you set yourself up for a successful diet.
The Jennifer Hudson Weight Loss experience is a suitable example of successful goal setting.
