Go for your goal

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Read we all know this already but it doesnot hurt

to reread it again heidi

Go for the Goal

Friday, January 16, 2009

By: beth Deffner

FMOnline vol. 9, no. 1

It's that time of year: looking back at the previous 12 months, we

see how far we progressed (or didn't); and looking ahead at the next

12 months, we think about changes we'd like to institute in our

lives, and goals we'd like to achieve. Losing weight, increasing

flexibility, decreasing prescriptions, improving sleep—there are many

goals that people with FM are likely to have. But the question is how

does one set an achievable goal?

Make a Plan

We all like to daydream! But if you want to make your daydream

reality, you have to change it into a goal. To do that, you need to

create a plan of action.

For example, if you want to lose 10 pounds, you need to set a

timetable for that weight loss. Do you want to lose it before bathing

suit season? Or are you going to try do drop those pounds before next

New Year's?

Once you have that target date, you can plan the steps you need to

take to reach your goal by that time. Professional organizer Dorothy

Streich points out that it's important to take potential roadblocks

into account when setting up your schedule. For instance, if you're

having a big family reunion over Memorial Day Weekend, you need to

acknowledge that sticking to your responsible eating plan may be

tough. Then you can consider ways to get around that roadblock—for

instance, bringing along plenty of healthful snacks so that you won't

be excessively tempted by all the goodies at the party.

One Step at a Time

Don't worry if your goal is a big one, like sleeping eight hours a

night—when most nights, you're lucky to snooze for four. You can take

your time to achieve it. In fact, you are much more likely to achieve

your goal if you break it into mini-goals and do a little bit of work

on it each day. For instance, you can start out by improving your

sleep hygiene. Maybe the first week of your plan, you'll focus on

getting to bed at the same time each night, and rising at the same

time each morning. Week two, you can begin eliminating caffeine and

other stimulants from your diet. Make each goal a mouthful, instead

of biting off more than you can chew; then you can feel confident of

succeeding, which will encourage you to reach for the next goal—

rather than not realizing a big goal, feeling defeated, and giving

up.

" Instead of looking at the horizon and all that is left to do, we see

the building blocks we've climbed along the way, " Streich explains.

Learning to set mini-goals can be a goal in itself! " When my FM

worsened I smugly thought I had a good handle on setting goals. Boy,

was I wrong, " Streich recalls. " As my FM progressed over the last

several years, what I thought were small manageable goals were too

big for me. I forgot to acknowledge little successes. I'd chunk goals

down into smaller baby steps only to find they were too big. One day

I asked myself, `What is a baby step? How small can it be?'

" Manageable goals are one step at a time; grinning and cheering is

important. No self-pity. "

Enjoy the Journey!

All this may well sound like a lot of work—and it is. But that

doesn't mean you can't enjoy it.

Be proud of your steadily increasing strength, of your dedication to

a healthy sleep routine, of your nutritious eating plan. Even if the

pounds come off slowly, and your minutes of restful sleep increase a

little at a time, you are still making progress. You are still

improving your health. You are still refusing to let fibromyalgia

decrease your quality of life, and in fact are making great strides

toward improving that quality of life.

" We have all heard the line, `Do you look at the glass as half empty

or half full?' But I have a slightly different take on that line when

I am setting goals. I ask myself, `Are you starting with an empty

glass, or half full?' " says Ewing.

" Most people start with an empty glass. Because of my fibromyalgia,

my glass is already half-full. If I added the same amount of liquid

(i.e. tasks and goals) to my glass that a non-FM person would add to

theirs, my glass would be overflowing.

" This helps me visualize that I need to take in smaller amounts.

Instead of trying to clean my whole house, cleaning one room each

day; instead of taking on a full-time job, working half or three-

quarters time. "

Streich also sets herself small goals—knowing that she can achieve

them, and feel successful. " Then I stop and check in with myself:

how's my energy, do I need to rest, can I take one more step?

" I'd love to say I'm perfect at this, alas I'm not. But I'm way

better than a year ago and I can actually do more. That's called

success. "