My Grocery List app by Ben
So, I was sitting down this morning, writing and thinking about my goals. I realized that I need more of them. I had a few on my list, half of them health-related, about a third of them financially motivated and the last twenty percent is confidence, staying relaxed and focused. I am adding additional main goals that are measurable and then sub-goals that will help me complete those primary goals. I make sure I have my targets that are written down every day to make sure I accomplish those. I also have the affirmations that I repeat to myself over and over again to etch them into my subliminal mind.
For my health-related goals as an example, I set the optimal weight and Body Mass Index or BMI that I should be at for my height and that I have a healthy body. My targets for this is to eat healthily, exercise for 30 minutes a day at least with a focus on doing cardio, walking in my case. Relaxing is also a part of being healthy and is also a target. On the day’s that I plan to go to the gym with my cousin which is Monday through Thursday, I get the muscle groups added to my target for that day to hold myself accountable and not to make any excuses for not doing them. If I write it down as a part of my AM Routine, I have to review it as a part of my PM Routine, and that is a fail if I didn’t accomplish a written target. My affirmations for health is what I repeat to myself, and I say to myself over and over again these two phrases. “I eat, or I don’t eat at all,” “I will exercise for 30 minutes”, and “I will relax my body.”
I’ll toss in a few other targets in there as well for the day, things I need to do that may not necessarily be goal related. Things like, “Call the tax guy to check the status of the filing,” or “Help my parents today with writing a letter to their healthcare provider to get a refund.”
So as I said at the beginning, I do need to add additional items to this list of goals for myself, things that are important to me like spending quality time with those that I love. Sit down with them, listen to what they say, be an ear that hears with empathy. I have always wanted to write a computer program; nowadays that focus has shifted to making an iOS or Android program. I favor iOS myself, however, so I’ll make an iOS application and added that to my main goals. That primary goal of building an iOS app needs a sub-goal to achieve. I added, for example, an online course “From the course: Programming Foundations: Fundamentals” to my list of targets after completing the course, “Building Your First iOS App” and writing two applications and loading them on my iPhone. Yes, they are more simple applications, but I have to chalk this up as an accomplishment because I have never made an iOS application from scratch like this before. I feel I am on my way to building experience and a new skill to better myself. And that is the last affirmation on my list by the way, “Everyday and in every way, I am getting better.”
We all can improve; we all can be better. Goal setting is an essential tool in our mental toolbox to get it done.