Reset Your Goals and Renew Your Life

[Pages:2]Learn It. Live It.

A program for use at chapter meetings

Reset Your Goals and Renew Your Life

By Rochelle Melander

Introduction

Materials:

Last winter, we envisioned what we wanted our lives to be like at the end of the upcoming year. We set goals.

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We created a plan--a series of small steps to help us

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achieve those goals. And we worked that plan--by eating better and exercising more. We worked with our TOPS chapter to stay accountable and motivated.

Preparation:

Distribute paper, pens/pencils

No doubt some of us experienced bumps along the way. (Bumps? Some of them were roadblocks!) Life happened--and it wasn't always easy. We encountered

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stress, sadness and frustration. We ate the cookies,

to members at the start of the meeting.

binged on reality television shows and skipped our workouts. We wondered if we could get back on track, worried we couldn't and maybe even thought about quitting.

But we're here today at TOPS. We're committed to

changing our lives and to supporting each other. Now,

more than halfway through the year, it's time to reset our

resolutions and renew our commitment to our goals. Together we'll take a look at our successes

and setbacks. We'll move forward--together, with new goals.

Celebrating Successes

Do you take time to celebrate what went well? Psychologists tell us that our brains have a negativity bias, or a tendency to remember bad news. We recall and dwell on difficult events, personal failures and negative feedback. When we do this, we often dismiss good events, personal successes and positive information. As we review the year so far, let's take time to look at what went well. Think about the following questions:

? What goals did you set for this year? ? What small positive steps did you take toward your goals? ? When you look at your successes, what strengths do you see in yourself? (For example, if you

were able to discover and make healthy meals for your family, you might see the strengths of creativity, resourcefulness and learning. If you worked with your chapter to increase your daily steps, you might have also exercised skills like persistence, teamwork and leadership.)

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CHAPTER & MEMBER RESOURCES

(Allow members a few minutes to record their answers. If your group is especially large [more than 10 members], divide into smaller groups of two or three members for this part. Then ask members to share their answers with the group.)

Assessing Challenges

It helps to talk about what worked, what didn't work and what we can learn from that information. At first, it's hard to review our missteps. We feel like we've failed. But missteps can be our wake-up call: We need to do something differently.

Reviewing challenges can provide valuable information. One member tried to exercise before work but rarely succeeded. When she examined what usually happened, she realized that between helping her children get ready for school and her long commute, she didn't have time to work out. She moved her exercise session to the end of the workday and succeeded. Let's take a look at our own successes and misses and see what we can learn. Begin reviewing with these questions:

? What challenges did you face as you worked toward your goals?

? What have your successes and missteps taught you?

(As before, give members a few minutes to record, and then share, their answers.)

Moving Forward

In the 1980s, organizational theorist Karl Weick introduced a strategy he called "small wins." He discovered that individuals who wanted to make big shifts did better if they made small, easy changes. These changes led

to small wins, and multiple small wins added up to big accomplishments. As we approach the rest of the year, let's look at what small changes we can make to move toward accomplishing our big goals! Consider:

? What might be small, easy changes you could make in your eating plan?

? What are small, easy steps you could take toward your fitness goals?

? In what other areas of your life do you need to make small changes?

(Give members a few minutes to record their answers. Then invite members to help each other brainstorm some more small, easy steps forward.)

Starting Over

Many people love New Year's Day because it offers a chance to clean the slate and begin again. No matter what happened in the past year, we can forgive ourselves and move on. Let's not wait until next year to start fresh.

Whenever you experience a challenge or a setback, review the steps we just took together: celebrate successes, assess challenges and choose small steps forward. Then forgive yourself, let go of what was and embrace your fresh start!

Rochelle Melander is a certified professional coach, speaker and author of 10 books, including Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It). She regularly leads classes and coaches individuals and groups on writing and wellness. Web: .

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