29 Days of Heart Beats
Get your free daily dose of Heart Beats – a health tip a day throughout the month of February on our
Facebook
page. We'll cover everything from women's heart health to easy blood-pumping exercises to quizzes that assess your cardiovascular health.
Be sure to check out the FREE Healthy Heart classes including a "Ladies Night Out" and a CPR Blitz!
5 Easy Steps to Goal Success
Make This Year the Year You Actually Achieve Your New Year’s Resolutions!
The happiest people have clear-cut goals, both short- and long-term, in a variety of areas, including friendship, love, health and helping others.
Simply writing down your intentions is not enough according to a study at Melbourne University.
It may seem overwhelming, but you need to also write down how you propose to achieve the goal. If your goals are too ambitious, too vague or not backed up by a plan, you will rarely succeed. However, by starting simple and working your way up to longer-range goals, you may find yourself on a path to healthier living.
When you're trying to reach a new personal goal it frequently means changing what you've been doing so far in your life. And it's easy to slip back into your old ways – often without noticing. Follow these steps to help find what you want to achieve and how to do it.
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Brainstorm. List everything you want to do in your life, don't hold back. Think about what you have left unfinished, classes or skills you'd like to learn and even how you can give back. Think about how achieving this will bring you more pleasure or a sense of accomplishment.
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Prioritize. Choose ones that you have a burning desire to achieve. Determine what you will regret not doing five years down the line. Prioritize between goals that are contradictory, like saving money/buying a car.
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Mini-Goals. These are your measurable and trackable objectives on how you plan to achieve your goals. Break down your mini-goals into specific tasks. Write them down and cross them off each day. This will seem less overwhelming.
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Plan. Separate your goals into long and short term. Decide which one you want to start with. Only pick one at a time. Share your goal with friends and family for encouragement. Visualize yourself reaching your goal.
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Re-evaluate. If despite your best effort, you're not seeing progress, it might be a signal that it’s time to re-evaluate. Don't think of it as giving up, but as adapting to what is achievable.
State positive, measurable goals. Here are some examples to get you started:
Rather than this: I will exercise more.
Try this: I will start walking three times a week for 30 minutes at a time.
Rather than this: I need to eat better.
Try this: I will start each day by eating a healthy breakfast.
Rather than this: I need to lose some weight.
Try this: I will fit exercise into my schedule and plan healthy meals to lose two pounds per month, until I reach my recommended weight.
Remember, start with simple goals and track your progress daily.
