Classygirl Musings

Setting Attainable Goals!

This week’s Love Your Heart, Love Yourself Challenge is to set your goals for achieving the Life, Happiness or Health you want! 

Perhaps you want to lose a certain amount of weight, or teach people how to treat you, apply for a new job, lower your blood pressure or cholesterol.  Whatever it is, define it and be specific and know why you want to achieve the goal, as well.

Goals have many different levels. First create your "big picture" goal. Second, you break this down into the smaller and smaller targets that you must hit so that you reach your “Big Picture” goal. Finally, once you have your plan, you start working to achieve it.

The SMART METHOD for achieving goals.

I encourage you each to write down the goals you want to reach. Evaluate your goals and make changes as necessary to fit the SMART Goals Criteria.

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

Specific

Specific is the What, Why, and How of the SMART method.

WHAT are you going to do? WHY is this important to do at this time? What do you want to ultimately accomplish? HOW are you going to do it?

 

Be sure the goals you set are very specific, clear and easy. Instead of setting a goal to lose weight or be healthier, set a specific goal to lose 10pounds or to walk 2 miles at a moderate pace.

Measurable

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

Choose a goal with measurable progress, so you can see the change occur. How will you see when you reach your goal? Be specific! "I want to lose 10 pounds by

May 15, 2008

" is a specific target to be measured. "I want to lose weight this year” or I want to be healthier" is not as measurable.  With measurement you are able to celebrate your achievements!

Attainable

Goals you set which are too far out of your reach, you probably won't commit to doing. Although you may start with the best of intentions, the knowledge that it's too much for you means subconsciously you will always be reminded of this fact and it will stop you from even giving it your best.

If you aim to lose 25lbs in one week, we all know that isn't achievable. But setting a goal to loose 1-2lbs per week is attainable and when you've achieved that goal the first week you’ll celebrate and then aiming to lose another 1-2lbs, will keep it achievable for you.

Realistic

Come up with a plan which makes the goal realistic. The goal needs to be realistic for you and where you are at the moment. A goal of never again eating sweets, chips or chocolate may not be realistic for you.  However, a more realistic goal would be to eat a piece of fruit each day instead of one sweet item. You can then choose to work towards reducing the amount of sweets you eat gradually.

Be sure to set goals that you can attain with some effort! Too difficult and you set the stage for failure, but too low sends the message that you aren't very capable.

Timely

Set a timeframe for the goal!     If you don't set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there's no urgency to start taking action now.  Remember to keep your time commitment measurable, attainable and realistic!

A Glimpse at one of My Goals:  My BIG Goal is to lose 120lbs.  That was much too much for me to think about.  So I broke it down to 60lbs by the end of 2007.  I further broke it down to 1-2lbs per week.  How would I achieve this by portion control and walking 30 minutes 3x per week.  Along the way, I changed my goal to walking 4 days a week and giving up white flour, white sugar, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.  Although, I went cold turkey (cleaned out the fridge and cabinets), I’m not a fanatic about it.  When we are out I enjoy the foods that are available in very small quantities (I’ll have a few bites from a piece of cake or something like that). I’ve learned to bake some tasty treats using whole wheat pastry flour and agave or stevia(natural sweeteners, low glycemic) for sweeteners.    I’m more than halfway to my BIG GOAL!  I’ve got more in here too…such as being able to jump double-dutch effortlessly by my 40^th Birthday, which is in December 2008

I'd love to hear what your goals are! Feel free to share here or email me. I'll be sure to post some challenges that you might find helpful!

A Fun Day Out!

This past weekend, I had the joy of spending the day just having FUN!  First, I went to Archivers for their Make n Take Day.  I made the free card, a note holder for my fridge and a beautiful frame.  I also received a fun free gift...an acrylic stamp set for cardmaking, with some bling flowers included in the package.  Here's a picture!  It's doesn't do the actual projects any justice, but it's what I've got for now.  LOL!

Afterwards, I grab dh from the bookstore and he takes me shopping.  I get some new walking shoes.  All that walking I've done in the past year has completely worn out my old gym shoes!  I am finding that I'm a bit more daring now that I've lost 70 lbs!  Woohoo!  Check out my shoes, not typical of me...but I plan on being TOO CUTE from now until...FOREVER!

After shopping, dh took me out to dinner!  No pictures taken, just had a Chicken Ceasar Salad, but I did have a single scoop sundae for dessert!  YUM!

All in all, it was a great day!

Ciao!
Tiare.

BREATHE!

This week's Love Your Heart, Love Yourself (LHLS) Challenge is to BREATHE!

Yes, that’s right BREATHE!  Trust me, as you make lifestyle changes this small step, will make a BIG difference in your life, how you feel and how you handle stressful situations.
   

Most people don’t give any thought to how they breathe.  We are just moving through our day, as usual.  However, did you know that many of us are not getting the full benefits of breathing deeply and fully.  Consciously practicing to inhale and exhale properly and regulating your breathing can neutralize stress, lower blood pressure, improve digestion and more!  Wow! 

Now, place your hand on your belly and take a deep breath in and blow it out, did your belly inflate on your inhale or your chest?  When you breathe you want your belly to expand rather than your chest.  Now try it again, this time place your hand on your belly and take a slow deep breath in (through your nose) and imagine that your belly is a balloon you are filling with air, now exhale deeply through your mouth and your belly should go down.

Practice this throughout the day and whenever you are feeling anxiety or stress do this breathing technique until the feeling subsides.  It is WONDERFUL for neutralizing stress.  And guess what?  When you neutralize stress it lowers your blood pressure, aids digestion and can help in the battle of getting rid of those unwanted pounds!  With enough practice you can train yourself to breath from the abdomen regularly.

Now go forth this week and Love Your Heart, Love Yourself and BREATHE!

Join more than 30 women (and counting) as we take a journey to a healthier, happier life!  Learn more here...

If you are a blogger and you'd like to help encourage other women around the world to love their heart, love themselves please feel free to add the button below to your blog, you may link it to the first challenge, as well.

Thank you for making the journey with me!

Love Your Heart, Love Yourself Challenge

…a journey of health, happiness and strength.

The Challenge in a Nutshell!
Each week I will issue a challenge/suggestion or information that is good for your heart/ good for you or post an encouraging quote, poem or healthy recipe.  Your challenge is simply to follow along to achieve your own healthy, happy life!

Join the challenge by February 29, 2008 and you'll also be entered to win this journal to help you keep track of your personal journey. 

Know that it’s not just about weight loss, eating right or exercise…it’s also about thinking right and filling your heart, your life with good and positive people, places and things!  It’s all about LOVING YOU!

I've been commited for over a year now and counting.  See my before and after photos here!  Today, I challenge you to decide on YOU! Today COMMIT to loving YOU just a little more.  Now who is with me?  Who will make the commitment and join me each week in learning to Love Your Heart, Love Yourself!  Simply leave a comment if you would like to make the commitment, send me an email or simply pop in each week!   Also, pick up the Love Your Heart, Love Yourself button below and post it on your blog.   It'll be a great reminder to yourself and hopefully it will encourage other women to join in the journey!  Feel free to add a link to this post and invite your friends to join..no need to be a scrapbooker...this is for every woman!  Together we can all live a happier, healthier, stronger, more fulfilled life!

If you add the button to your blog, be sure to include your blog address so I can come visit and also leave your email address if you would like update reminders!

Ladies, you may join at anytime…just join and make the COMMITTMENT TO YOU!

   

Tiare.

New Layouts!!!

This weekend, I had the opportunity to crop with some of  my "scrappin' buddies,"  Moanica, Janine, Gwendolyn, Jenny, Nancy and Laurie!  We had a great time laughing and chatting and we even managed to get a couple of pages done!  Woohoo!  I'm on a roll!  I've completed 13 layouts and 7 cards so far, this year...which is quite good for me.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the pages I made this weekend!  The first 2 I used the February 2008 Plush Pak and the last is a layout I created for the BOM Challenge on Scraps of Color.  Here ya go...

Enjoy,
Tiare.