goals

“We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough”.  Helen Keller

I hope you took a bit of a break yesterday because it’s a new week and time to get excited about your goal again.  Need a little extra help getting motivated keep reading?  We have almost been at it a week so for most people it is time for a new surge of motivation, an added push. 

And what a push it is!  What do you get when you mix Yale University professors, an interactive website and the concepts of public accountability and tough consequences?  www.stickk.com is not your average get a goal, read newsletters, kind of site.  It has an added kicker which I think is really clever.  Based on 2 solid principles of behaviour economics which are 1) people don’t always do what they say they will do and 2) incentives get people going, stickk is designed to give you the motivation you need to succeed. 

Now you might be asking; “What do you mean consequence”?  Well I’m glad you asked, have a look at their site but here is a run down of the basic principles.  

You set your goal, decide whether to make your goal public to site users, or to specific people you want to invite to check in on your progress, you log in and write about whether or not you have done what you said you would do, and get this, you can assign a certain amount of money to be donated to a charity or here is the risky part, you can design the program so that your money will be donated to what they call an anti charity if you do not keep your promise to yourself. 

The added kicker?  They already have your money, if you decide to set financial stakes you pay up front!  Now that’s SMART.  Want to know more?  Check them out at https://www.stickk.com/  Here is what they say about themselves. 

Ready to finally stickK to your commitments? Then stand up, and put your reputation, or even your money, where your mouth is, and change your life. Reap the rewards of your hard work.

This sounds like free coaching?

It has a lot of the same benefits!  So if you are on the fence about whether or not to try coaching, or you are worried about the expense why not try this first? 

This post is dedicated to my friend Pam who was a gifted writer and who loved to tell the story about the family in her building who insisted that she KEEP QUIET as they “were preparing to prepare to make dinner”.  This still gets a laugh from me and is timely as I prepare to prepare to start this 21 day journey. 

So it’s time to think about a goal.  Is there something you want to change?  Most goals seem to fall into the categories of More Of or Less Of. 

More peace; more laughter; more fun; more exercise, more healthy food, more time spent with spouse, kids, friends, more money

Less stress, less weight, less gossiping, less work, less negativity, less junk food.

There is some evidence to suggest that your brain responds more effectively to the MORE OF type goals.  So if your goal is to lose 10 lbs, you might expand it to include: have MORE energy; eat MORE fruits and veggies, move MORE.  We’ll talk about how to make your goal a SMART goal on day 1 of the challenge. 

Maybe you don’t have a goal yet but you feel like something needs to change.  This is the Contemplation stage.  You are preparing yourself to make a change. 

One way that we strengthen our ability to change is to plan ahead.  Choose a start date that works for you.   You can play along with me or you can choose your own start date.  Many of you have told me that you have nutrition or fitness goals which is one reason I decided to wait until after Halloween, why make it harder than it has to be right?

Let’s aim to begin on Tuesday November 11th, Remembrance Day.  I chose a Tuesday as employers believe it is the most productive day of the week, I also wanted to finish the challenge before the frenzie of the holiday season begins.  My number 1 goals is to publish one post per day which you can find here.  I may also set a fitness goal but I’m still in the contemplation stage on that one!  I’ll let you know. 

ACTION:  Over the next few days note what challenges you will face during your 21 day challenge.  Send them to me and I’ll make sure to address those challenges in the posts.  You can add a comment or send a confidential email, robin@lifeinspired.ca

Have a great weekend, see you Tuesday.