Goal Setting: The Three R’s to Keep You On Track

You’ve set your goal, charted your path, and begun along your life-changing journey. But what happens when your resolve starts to crumble? How do you deal with setbacks, and sometimes how do you keep going when you feel like you’ve made minimal progress?

Here are three R’s to keep you on track.

R number 1 is for Review. We are often told to keep our eyes focused on our goal and not look back, but this is a time when looking back can be positively beneficial. However, this is not the kind of looking back that brings your emotions to the things you don’t like to remember. This is looking back at what you have accomplished, since you started working towards your goal.

A few years ago, when I realized that I could no longer rely on my body’s natural physical condition to keep me slim and noticed the effects of age that I was short of breath and my clothes didn’t fit as well; I made it a goal to get in shape, become a regular gym goer, and be able to run 5 miles without dying prematurely.

I went to work with great enthusiasm and worked hard for the first few weeks. Then I started finding it harder to motivate myself to hit the road in the mornings and would find excuses not to hit the gym.

But then a conversation with a friend prompted me to look back and see what I had accomplished so far. I found that not only was I able to run almost two miles without the need for an ambulance, but I had also raised my weights twice at the gym and my resting pulse had dropped 5 beats per minute. I began to appreciate that my efforts were paying off.

R number 2 is for Rejoice. In addition to reviewing it, it’s important to congratulate yourself on a job well done. As George Adams once said, “We all hunger for applause.” And it is just as valid, even if you have to applaud yourself.

Suddenly, after my checkup, I felt much better about what I had accomplished with my own efforts. I could see what profits had already increased and was eager to move on.

I ceremoniously crossed off the goal steps on my progress chart, smiled at myself in the mirror, and that night with friends, I felt perfectly justified in indulging in a little bragging. It felt good.

R number 3 is for Reward. Finally, as part of your goal plan, it’s a great idea to incorporate certain bigger milestones that will trigger a reward.

After hitting the 2.5 mile mark and a certain level of weights and repetitions in the gym, I told myself that I would buy a rowing machine for my house, so that when winter came and I couldn’t run as often, I would still be able to keep up the regimen.

Well I got there and it was a great feeling when I went to the store and ordered my machine. Sure, I could have afforded to buy one when I started, but this way, I really felt like I’d earned it and it made me appreciate it even more.

So, whatever goal you’ve set for yourself, don’t forget to follow through with these three motivational R’s. Review, Rejoice and Reward.