Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
Any time we are reaching for our goals we are going to have obstacles. Plan on them.
You can plan for them by developing strategies for the obstacles.
I’ll share with you one of my goals for 2021 and obstacles I’ve encountered and the strategies that will help me overcome them.
GOAL: Eat 80% on protocol this year. Every night I plan to write down what I am going to eat the following day. Cumulatively I want to eat what I say I’m going to eat 80% of the time this year.
Obstacles #1: Don’t write down my protocol ahead of time
*Do The Model for awareness on WHY I’m not writing it down
*Attach writing down my plan with a regular habit (after I get into bed I will record what I’m going to eat the following day)
The Model
Circumstance: Protocol
Thought: If I write it down, I won’t follow through.
Feeling: Disappointed
Action: Don’t write it down, eat whatever I want the next day
Result: I’m not giving myself a chance.)
Sometimes our brains are tricky. My thought isn’t even true. The truth is “If I write it down, I will follow through.” That’s why I’m not writing it down. I don’t want to follow through. Yet I do. Otherwise I wouldn’t have made the goal. So now I need to figure out WHY I do want to follow through and let that thought drive my actions.
Obstacle #2: Unwilling to feel some emotions: deprived, urges, success, capable.
*Recognize that I’m just trying to avoid feeling some emotions (deprivation and urges). Recognize that because I’m not doing it I’m also avoiding other feelings (success and capable.) I am willing to feel disappointed because that’s what I’m choosing to do when I don’t write it down.
*Focus on the feeling I want to experience (Committed) and decide the thought that will drive that feeling
Thought: I want to develop the skill of keeping my word to myself.
STRATEGIES
Post my WHY on sticky notes where I can see them.
After I get into bed, write down my protocol for the next day.
Be willing to feel deprived and success and committed.
It’s a start. There will be more obstacles after mastering these- like managing my mind around the thought, “I don’t want to follow this protocol.”
But I know how to plan for them!
What obstacles are keeping you from achieving your goals?
