{"id":6346,"date":"2017-07-25T12:31:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=6346"},"modified":"2017-07-25T12:31:12","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T12:31:12","slug":"when-setting-goals-give-yourself-a-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/when-setting-goals-give-yourself-a-break\/","title":{"rendered":"WHEN SETTING GOALS, GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You might know me as a positive guy if you have read, listened to, or watched my stuff over the years. I strive to be that way, especially when I\u2019m interacting with others, but it\u2019s never been an automatic thing for me when evaluating myself. In my younger days \u2013 still young, by the way, or at least like to think I am (Attitude, Perspective\u2026 Mindset) \u2013 I was my own worst critic. It was a challenge then, and it\u2019s something that I still work on to this day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The clarity of hindsight is a beautiful thing, and looking back I can see that a big problem for me was setting unrealistic goals, then getting frustrated by falling short. Why start with a mile, when you can train for the whole marathon? Because marathons are hard, and real life doesn\u2019t allow you to skip the first 25.2 miles just to get to the home stretch.<\/p>\n

Struggling with Self-Doubt? Try Rewarding Yourself for the Little Achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, I really try to take the opposite view and set incremental goals that lead to the big ones. So lately I\u2019ve taken up running again, hence the marathon talk. My buddy John Andrews is a big runner, and we really have great conversations when we go for walks. I want to be able to continue those conversations at John\u2019s preferred pace, but running has never been my strong suit.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always liked working out, but greatly prefer my bike to the treadmill. So I\u2019m starting small, and working my way up to three miles. The trip from my house to the beach and back is about 1.5 miles, so the first goal is to keep a good pace for that distance. No hard time limits. When I finish, I give myself a little pat on the back for accomplishing what I set out to do. Sometimes I walk, sprint, walk, sprint.<\/p>\n

And you know what? I\u2019m having more success pursuing my ultimate goal of three miles, and I\u2019m enjoying the process more without the internal pressure. I know I\u2019ll get there, I know it takes time, and I always try to remind myself that incremental progress is meaningful. Again, none of that stuff is automatic for me. It\u2019s not easy to give yourself a break, but it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

The Big Picture Benefits of Accomplishing Little Things<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another personal example, and one that not many people know about yet is that I have started eating vegan. It\u2019s something that I had wanted to do for quite a while, so I\u2019ve been trying to give myself the best chance possible to see it through. A total change in diet is a huge commitment and affects you in all sorts of little, unforeseen ways day-to-day.<\/p>\n

In the past, I\u2019d have struggled with it much more because I\u2019d have been thinking about how I had to become a vegan\u00a0forever<\/em>. You seriously expect me to skip out on steak and eggs for the rest of my days? Now, I know that to accomplish my goal I just need to eat vegan\u00a0today<\/em>. I don\u2019t have to worry about what I\u2019ll be eating for dinner five years from now, as long as I focus on achieving my goal one day, week, month, year at a time.<\/p>\n

The vegan experiment has gone well enough in the first six months that I have decided to keep it up for a year, to see how it affects my body and my health over time. I\u2019m already seeing the health benefits by accomplishing my short-term goals, which makes the process of seeing it through the full year much less intimidating. I give myself credit for what I\u2019ve accomplished so far, and use that as motivation to reach my goals again tomorrow.<\/p>\n

And of course I apply this very same principle to the rebuilding of, and maintaining, my relationship with my daughters. I set short-term goals, stay present and available ALWAYS, and am thankful always for the love I have in my heart, and the moments we have\u2026 that will always be mine (Attitude, Perspective\u2026 Mindset). #ThisDadWontQuit.<\/p>\n

The same basic idea works for any type of goal, personal or professional. There is only so much that you can do in a given day. Setting unrealistic goals just makes it more difficult to accomplish what you set out to do, and can easily short-circuit whatever progress you do make. Set attainable goals, accomplish what you set out to do each day, and give yourself some credit for a job well done. Over time, accomplishing those smaller goals lays the foundation for achieving the big ones.\u00a0\u00a0#NoLetUp!<\/a><\/p>\n

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Previously posted at\u00a0TedRubin.co<\/a>m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You might know me as a positive guy if you have read, listened to, or watched my stuff over the years. I strive to be that way, especially when I\u2019m interacting with others, but it\u2019s never been an automatic thing for me when evaluating myself. In my younger days \u2013 still young, by the way, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tedrubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6347,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6346\/revisions\/6347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}