Goals, if you want them!

We are getting to the point where we can wish 2017 goodbye (and possibly good riddance!).  We get to flip the calendar page and start again.

I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s Resolutions.  Any day will do for a fresh start.  However, some people like to have the company of friends as they embark on a new project.  I am here to help with goals.

You bring the vision, I’ll bring the strategy.

Maybe toasted...

Let’s talk about marshmallows, again.  The classic psychological experiment on delayed gratification (now updated to include data on whether the test subjects trusted the experimenters!) used marshmallows as an incentive.  A child was offered one marshmallow now, or two if he or she could wait five minutes.  The long term outcomes for the kids who could make it through to two marshmallows were much better on many measures.  Guess what we are supposed to do.

But let’s talk about the actual marshmallows.  We are told, or tell ourselves, that lots of things are treats, like marshmallows.  (I have nothing against marshmallows, per se, although I’ve just typed the word enough times that it is sounding weird to me.)  What if we are doing all this work of delayed gratification for something that isn’t worth waiting for?

Let’s set goals that really do give us gratification.  Those goals probably won’t be about marshmallows.  They probably won’t even be about bikinis.  What we probably really want is to feel good, healthy, happy.  That kind of goal is worth the wait to achieve.

Or you could do some boxing for Boxing Day?

My dad, upon observing the cycle my mom went through over Christmas of shopping, wrapping, shipping, opening, and then, inevitably, after Christmas, returning things that didn’t fit or suit, once threatened to skip the whole thing and just shop with my mom during the after-Christmas sales.  He didn’t follow through in the interest of family harmony:  there are some traditions it is better not to mess with.

Now that we are, however, in the after-Christmas sale portion of the year, it is worth asking ourselves, metaphorically, what we wished we had received at Christmas that we didn’t and to make plans to give ourselves those gifts.  Maybe we really wanted just ten minutes of peace and quiet.  Maybe we wished for more energy to chase the kids around on their bikes or at the park or through the living room when they swiped the last cookie.  Maybe we would have liked that sweater better if the smaller size had fit.

In the lull after the holiday blitz, we have time to plan.  We have a moment to think about what matters and to strategize about how to get more of that stuff into our lives.

Give yourself that ten minutes, or maybe even a whole yoga-class worth of peace and quiet.  Get out there and move your body to increase your energy.  Bump up the weights to change your body fat percentage and improve your metabolism so the next time you get a sweater, it fits.

Most of that stuff doesn’t even cost money.  Bargains galore!