It’s that time of year again – I can’t turn on the TV without seeing an ad for a diet or exercise program, and the local gym is packed. New Year’s Resolutions are here! I’m a big believer in setting (and achieving) goals, and I want to share some of what I’ve learned along the way. This will be the first in a series of posts dedicated to this important topic..
Consistency Counts!
There’s a reason why there are so many different sayings which all say the same thing.
- A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.
- How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
- Inch by inch, anything’s a cinch.
- Move one stone at a time and before long you will have moved the entire mountain. (OK, that one’s mine and not quite as popular as the others, yet…)
Any goal worth achieving is going to be difficult, and is going to take some effort over an extended period of time. You can’t lose 40 pounds, read a dozen books, write the great American novel, or train to run a marathon – in a weekend! These are all worthwhile goals, but they’ll probably take all year long. Work on them a little bit at a time, and let time help to magnify your efforts – there are 365 days again this year, plan on using them all.
If you lose 1 pound a week, you’ll blow away your stated goal of 40 pounds for the year by over 25%. Now, to lose 1 pound this week, you only need to lose about 2 ounces today. That’s it. You won’t even notice it on the scale. But keep after it, a little bit each day, and the results will speak volumes.
Here are some other examples where time can magnify your effort:
- Can you do 36,000 push-ups? You can if you do 50 each morning and 50 each night.
- Want to read more? How many books could you devour reading for 8 days straight, without stopping for food or sleep? Reading for 30 minutes each night will give you the same results, without depriving you of sleep!
- Learning a new language, or trying to play a musical instrument? That same 30 minutes each day will be the annual equivalent of practicing your new craft as a full-time job (8 hours a day) for more than 3 weeks.
So go ahead and move that mountain. One stone at a time (and remember to lift with your legs!)
Your raising the bar on goals Realtor,
Chris Butterworth
Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.
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Chris I completely agree. Often time people are intimidated by learning a new language or think I’m too old. Well I learned French in adulthood and am working on Spanish. I failed French and Spanish in High School so I’m not a special case. Learning a foreign language just takes time, effort, and quality instruction.
If any of your readers are interested in learning Spanish or another foreign language I would like to extend an invitation to sit in on our classes for 1 week FREE. We have group classes during the evenings and weekends for: Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
We also teach kids classes for Spanish and are organizing French and Chinese.
Everyone can learn a foreign language and achieve any other goal you have if you take it one day at a time.
Great Post!
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