Setting goals isn’t brain surgery

Declutter and simplify your life. Lose weight without dieting. Find happiness in six easy steps. Write a book in 20 minutes. Most of the time I wield a fast-food mentality as I look for an easy way to achieve results—a “how-to” fix. In between stocking the frig with healthy meals and the closets with clean clothes, working full-time and keeping fit, I seek short cuts when feasible—especially as it pertains to goal setting of any kind. But it turns out I’ve been making it way more complicated than it needs to be. One of my friends recently posted this quote on Facebook: Set goal. Make plan. Get to work. Stick to it. Reach goal. Last week I finally set a goal, made a plan, got to work and stuck to it for the full week. I wrote. Every. Damn. Day. And it felt fan-freaking-tastic. On to the next goal. Before I know it, Someday my dreams will come true.

What does your goal-setting process look like?

When in doubt, choose change

[Image credit: vichie81]

By changing nothing, nothing changes. ~ Tony Robbins

Although the squeaky wheel gets the grease is a commonly repeated adage, it typically only works if you complain to the powers that be.  When it relates to our own lives, however, complaining about something does little (to nothing) to resolve a situation.  For instance, I’ve been noticing a change in how my clothes are fitting and I recently complained to a friend about it.  And then I added: it’s called chips and salsa.  I know what’s causing the thicker waistline.  For someone in a dead-end relationship or job or just not happy with their lives for one reason or another, complaining won’t change anything, either.  Only change will.  So I’m adding this to my 2013 list of guidelines for living: no complaining allowed as long as I’m not working toward change — meaning no lamenting my ill-fitting skinny jeans if I continue to snack on chips and salsa every night.

What do you keeping complaining about that never changes?