Setting Weight Loss Goals - Creating Waypoints On The Road To Success

Most people fail at their chosen endeavors because they don't bother setting clear, written goals. Imagine you're going on a trip with several stops. On your map, you make several marks. These are your waypoints. Think of goals as waypoints on your road to lasting weight loss success. You define your route and the way-points help you get there.

Without these waypoints you'll eventually lose your way. Maybe you'll make a wrong turn. Maybe you'll turn off onto an interesting side street. Whatever happens, you'll waste a lot of time and effort by taking an indirect route to your destination...if you get there at all.

Why are clear, written goals so powerful?

- Goals give you focus. Having vaguely defined goals is like looking through an out-of-focus camera lens. The landscape in front of you is blurry. Setting goals is like adjusting the focus of
the lens until the picture before you is sharp and crisp.

- Goals improve persistence. When you know exactly what you want, you have an easier time getting it. Think of goals as the specific steps to helping you get exactly the lasting weight loss you desire.

- Written goals provide a daily reminder of your destination. When you look at your written goals every day they stay in your mind. They become harder to ignore.

Why is setting goals so difficult?

Many people have trouble meeting their goals, and many more don't have goals at all. Several factors prevent people from meeting their goals.

- Lack of knowledge. People aren't born knowing how to set goals; this is a skill which many people never have the opportunity to learn.

- Fear of failure. Weight loss goals can seem challenging and failing to meet them can be discouraging, especially if they are big, long-term, life-changing goals. Fear of failure prevents some people from even trying.

- Unwritten goals. Dr. Gail Matthews, a researcher from Dominican University of California, found that people who didn't write their goals on paper were least likely to achieve them.

How to start setting your weight loss goals

In a 1981 review of laboratory and field studies, researchers at the University of Maryland found that 90% of academic research showed that "specific and challenging goals" led to higher performance than "easy goals", "do your best goals", or "no goals at all".

- Define your weight loss goals clearly...and write them down. This is one of the most important factors for success. Clearly-defined goals improve task performance and enable you to receive feedback on your progress towards your goal.

- Make yourself accountable to someone else. Tell a supportive friend or relative of your goal and give them weekly reports. Dr. Matthews found that people who did this were more likely to meet their goals.

- Don't worry about failure. Failure is normal. Everyone fails sometimes. The people who find success are those who learn from their failures.

- Set realistic goals. You can't build a castle in a day; to attempt to do so would be frustrating, chaotic and disappointing. At the same time, your goal shouldn't be too easy. You won't receive satisfaction if you don't have to work for it.

- Define and refine your goal. Sometimes we try to set realistic goals but we soon learn that they're too difficult to achieve. Adjust as necessary as you travel down the road to success.

- Look at your weight loss goals on a daily basis. Post them somewhere you'll see them, such as near your computer or on your refrigerator.

Goal setting doesn't have to be difficult. Reaching your goal is just a matter of setting the waypoints on the road to success. With these tips, you can set your waypoints today... and arrive sooner than you ever imagined.