I’ve set many goals in my lifetime. Some of them I’ve reached, some of them I’ve surpassed, and lots of them I’ve failed. I’m not one to take kindly to failure so when I fail a goal I get down. I think it wasn’t meant to be or that I wasn’t good enough. Looking back at all those failures, I wish I had the knowledge about goals that I have now.

Goals make or break some of us. That’s why the key to setting goals is to make them achievable. In the article that follows I intend to explain exactly what I mean by that statement. I am going to show you how to create a goal that is achievable and then take you through the path to achievement.

To create a goal that is achievable you have to understand the meaning behind the word. It’s one thing to know the definition and another to know what it means to you. Achievement is an emotion. When you accomplish something you are proud, happy, and a bunch of other emotions all felt at once. The exact opposite is felt when you don’t accomplish the same thing. So with all that said, let us create an achievable goal.

The goal we are going to set is to lose weight. Who doesn’t want that as a goal? To make this an achievable goal we have to zero our weapon. This is where most people fail. Numbers are not our friends when we are talking about weight. Most of us are sensitive about our numbers. The biggest reason people fail at this point is they set their number to high. I’m not saying that your number can’t be high, I’m just saying that you have to keep achievement in mind.

So now the goal is going to be to lose 50 pounds. A goal that is unachievable in my opinion because the number is too high. How we zero our weapon is easy. In order to lose 50 pounds we are going to have to lose 1-49 pounds in the process. This fact gives us the opportunity to create more than one goal (target). The goal of losing 50 pounds is changed to just losing weight with the target weight of 50 pounds marked as a long range target or long term goal. This makes our goal of losing weight achievable.

Now that we have an achievable goal, we can lay out the path to the goal. This is where we discover what our targets are. We break down the 50 pounds into 3-5 pound increments, write down our methods of working out, make a meal plan, decide whether or not to use supplements, and obtain all the additional support needed. Keep in mind that all these additional targets are goals as well. They too have to be achievable. This is what is going to keep us going down the path.

Once we have all our targets, the only thing left to do is to set them up and start knocking them down. For example:

Monday- weigh-in, workout/ run 1.5 miles, breakfast/ ½ cup of egg beaters with 2 pieces of toast, snack/ fiber one bar, lunch/ 2 cups of bean soup, snack/ 20 mini pretzels, dinner/ 6oz. grilled chicken with a salad, dessert, 1 skinny cow ice cream sandwich.

Tuesday: workout/ weight training, breakfast/ ½ cup egg beaters with ½ serving of shredded cheese, snack/ fiber one bar, lunch/ 2 cups of bean soup, snack/ mini bag of fat free popcorn, dinner/ ground turkey tacos with rice, dessert/ 1 skinny cow ice cream sandwich.

Wednesday: workout/ run 3-5 miles, breakfast/ ½ cup egg beaters with 2 pieces of toast, snack/ fiber one bar, lunch/ 2 cups of bean soup, snack/ 20 mini pretzels, dinner/ 6oz. grilled chicken with salad, dessert/ skinny cow ice cream sandwich.

Thursday: workout/ weight training, breakfast/ ½ cup egg beaters and 1/6 cup of shredded cheese, snack/ fiber one bar, lunch/ 2 cups of bean soup, snack/ mini bag of fat free popcorn, dinner/ 6-8oz. baked chicken with broccoli and mashed potatoes, dessert/ 1 skinny cow ice cream sandwich.

Friday: weight-in, workout/ run 3-5 miles, breakfast/ ½ cup of egg beaters with 2 pieces of toast, snack/ fiber one bar, lunch/ 2 cups of bean soup, snack/ 20 mini pretzels, dinner/ ground turkey stuffed peppers with mashed potatoes, dessert/ 1 skinny cow ice cream sandwich.

The meal plans and workouts are all derived individually. The key is that you create the targets. I like to write mine down in a notebook. I keep track of everything. This way it lets me see where I can make adjustments for the next round of targets.

I like to achieve my goals more than once before I move forward. This way I get the confidence of knowing that it wasn’t a fluke. Remember, achievement is an emotion. A mindset that allows us to be successful. In my mind I have to prove to myself I can do it more than once. That’s what makes it a success to me.

Goals are meant to be achievable. When we set them as such, we are able to experience the emotion of achievement upon our success. In order to do this we have to focus (zero) our mind (weapon), layout our path to success, discover our goals (targets), and start our journey towards accomplishing them. With a support group and plan, anyone can achieve their goals.