Maybe I'm a bit odd (don't I know it!), but just in case there are others out there like me, I thought I'd jot down my process for this year.  It's a bit different, but I now have a list of goals that resonate in my soul.  And if I am that emotionally invested in them, can anything stop me from achieving them?  Still with me?  Then you probably want your goals to be just as meaningful to you, am I right?  Then let's get started!

First things first - you have to know what you want in order to figure out how to get there, right?  So what do you want?  Here's the trick, though, don't just say "I want to lose weight" or "I want to travel."  That's not an emotional desire.  WHY do you want to lose weight?  WHY do you want to travel?

The pic on the right is the list I made about a week ago, and it's the one I worked from to create my goals for 2015.  Now, it may not seem like much to you, but those items on that list all have emotional ties to them.  

For example, #1 is vacation.  Now, I'm not talking about just any old vacation.  I'm talking about a solid week away from life - just my dreamy husband and me.  And it has to be all-inclusive so that we have to worry about NOTHING!  And it has to have activities.  Pretty much, I want to recreate our 10th anniversary trip.  Why?  Because it was an amazing experience, one that I will never forget and one that still makes my heart swell.

Do you see what I did there?  I had an emotional response.  And everything on my list has a similar emotional response.  Your turn:  what in the past has elicited an incredible response?  It can be positive OR negative, but I personally relate to positive emotions more fully.  Joy inspires while pain uses fear...and I am much more prone to dwell on the positive.  But truly, either end of the spectrum works.

So now you know what you want; how exactly do you make it happen?  Believe it or not, this was the easy part for me this year.  Once I found the things that grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go, it was easy to come up with the steps to get there.  Let's take the vacation example again.  How can I make it happen?   Well, I'm not getting a raise in my day job anytime soon, so that's out.  The obvious answer is to generate more income from Team Beachbody Coaching.  And since I love what I do as a coach, it's a no-brainer.  It just means I have to work a little harder.

Your turn:  how can you make your dreams happen?  Remember, anything is possible.  You just have to find the how!

I'm going to go back in time to when I used to be a gymnast for a second.  There's an event in gymnastics that I used to LOVE - that of the vault:

I bring up the vault because that's how I see the goals I have made.  The goal itself is like flying through the air.  You set yourself up to fly by the type of jump on the springboard.  That's your first reverse engineering step.  But how you approach the board also matters.  What foot do you start with?  How long is your stride?  How fast?

And we have to break down our goals the same way:  what little steps do we have to take to make them happen?

Let's go back to my vacation goal again.  So I want to have a more lucrative Beachbody business.  How?  By talking to more people.  By blogging consistently.  By doing exactly what I ask my challengers and other coaches to do.

Your turn:  make it simple.  What do you have to do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to make your dream happen?

Be Accountable

So, you've created a plan; now it's time to stick the landing (too much gymnastics?).  Anywho, the final piece of the puzzle is accountability.  Make your goals public.  Hang them where you can see them.  Find someone who will tell it like it is, honestly.


So my final step?  It's sharing my goals with my success partner and now also with you.   So what are my goals for the year?

1. I will take my husband on an all-inclusive vacation.  No phones, no computers, no connection with the outside world.  I'm not picky on location as long as there is sand and saltwater.  
2. I will go on a missions trip this year.  I would prefer international, but in all reality, I've missed it so much that I will go anywhere.  I guess that's probably more of what God wants anyways, eh?
3. I will have a personalized, deep relationship with at least 5 people per month.  I am in the business of helping people, but I also want to turn that into a business of KNOWING people.  And knowing people where they are is deeper, richer, and more authentic.  And that is something I always want to be.
4. I will establish workable and sustainable routines.  These include household routines as well as working routines.  Routines bring peace as well as results.  And who doesn't need more peace in their lives?
5. I will read 24 personal development books this year.  What better way to become a better person than to ingest positive instruction on a daily basis?  What I read determines what and how I think.  And what I think determines what I do.  I have started a list, but I am always happy to have other suggestions....  anyone?
6. Ah, vanity, you win again!  I want to be in single-digit sizes by my birthday in May.  I'm currently a 12, so it's doable, right?  Especially with 21 Day Fix Extreme coming out next month...but I digress.  I am now able to jump and run as I used to before my injury (that was a LONG time coming...) so with the proper nutrition, I'll hit that goal.  Anyone want to join me?  I'd love the company!

There you have it.  My goals and how I got there.  Was this helpful for you?  Did you set goals for the new year?  Let me know in the comments!