Discipline is not a bad word

I think a lot about reaching certain goals in my life.. I have written pages and pages about it in my journals./.. I have worked hard at it// I have cried about it.. I have been open-minded.. However, in the end, many of my goals have eluded me (don't you love the passive voice here??). Anyway, I sat down recently and tried to articulate why I think I haven't been successful in the past and what I can do to get different results moving forward..

There is one OVERRIDDING goal that I got from reading Good to Great- DISCIPLINE OR THE LACK OF ALONG THE WAY.. I don't underestimate the importance of this little trait and I no longer equate it with being neurotic or lacking spontenaeity (sort of how I used to see "morning" people before I came one)..

So, as promised in my previous post, I am including a list (it is shorthand since no one is actually reading it)..

Reasons I haven't reached my goals
• Process & intellectualize conditions
• Too easy on myself at crunch time (but too hard on myself after-the-fact)
• Blame outside factors (eg. Tumor)
• Self-sabotage (eg. Cookies after workout)
• Bad self-image (living to be right about image)
• Stuck on old images/messages about self
• VERY Comfortable
• Focus only on results not process
• Hoping for quick solutions (tied to bullet above)
• Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow
• Got to have last “hurrah” before start
• Swinging for fences – all or nothing at all
• No belief that change will actually happen
• Lack of internal integrity (strong external integrity – keep promises to everyone but me)
• No back up plans when I mess up
• Not prioritizing important goals over BS time fillers
• No CLEAR, REALISTIC, ATTAINABLE goals/objectives
• I write down goals and never look back (as if writing down takes me off hook)
• NO “non-negotiables”
• No sense of urgency
• No positive reinforcement (esp. from self)
• No rewards
• Waiting for magical epiphany instead of “just acting” just doing it!!
• Never “act as if”
• Feeling like I am “too far gone” to change or reach goal
• Short term thinking
• No support network
• Feeling that I am victim or that things are unfair (eg. It is unfair that some folks get to eat all they want and not gain a pound)

Keys to reaching goals
 Establish Realistic and attainable Goals (by the way, changing habits is a goal)
 Objectives that will get to goal
 Benchmarks & periodic evals.
 Periodic rewards (daily if necessary)
 Redefine what rewards are (not bad stuff)
 Recruit support network
 Start NOW, not tomorrow
 Make it priority #1
 BE SELFISH ABOUT IT
 Revel in the process
 Revisit goals OFTEN (daily)
 Be hard on yourself
 Establish Plan B (eg. When you are about to eat something bad for yourself, OD on h2o).
 Contingency plans to get back on track if you do mess up “all is not lost”
 Change rhetoric and self-messaging to reflect the way you really feel about yourself (treat yourself the way you’d treat a best friend)
 Act “as if” you are already at your goal
 Recognize that the epiphany is just that.. and change happens in action
 START NOW…