Are You Happy With Your Goals?

Maintenance is okay too

“Efficiency is a great secret that can drop us right into our ideal life path, but it is a hard one to practice and something that takes constant maintenance and work.”

— Tara Stiles

Being efficient with our goals is not always easy, but gratitude is the spice that keeps things exciting.

When it comes to cooking a meal, I’m incredibly efficient. How about you?

I love cooking, and I’ll be applying my skills in the kitchen to achieve my new goals while maintaining my well-established ones.

Maybe this year you are happy with how your life is going. Are you great at setting daily goals that propel you forward? Do you have a routine that leaves room for growth?

If this is the case, it’s okay to live in maintenance mode this year while still striving to do a little better than yesterday.

Although maintenance is rewarding, it certainly isn’t as exciting as when something is brand new.

That new car smell

There is something about a new goal that is exciting, like that new car smell, or much like those new recipes.

It’s exciting coming up with a goal and just getting started. Maybe it’s writing in a journal? Have you ever bought the perfect one? You might even have had all the best intentions in the world to write in it. You even begin, but the new smell wears off.

I have written in a journal for almost twenty-four years now. It has become something I just do. It wasn’t always that way. It’s evolved in many ways. I’m constantly changing how I use it.

Suppose you ask somebody who has lost weight before, they most likely would be telling you that maintenance is the hardest part. However, somebody just starting would say to you that after the newness wears off, it’s tough to lose weight too.

To stay motivated with the way your life is moving forward, we must keep things fresh.

Maintaining that new car smell

In the same way, as we take our cars into the shop or we explore new recipes to spice things up in the kitchen, we must also consider jazzing up our goals regularly. I’m grateful for the ability to keep things fresh.

If we don’t get an oil change, our car will blow its engine. If we get bored in the kitchen, we will feel deprived and blow our goals for a healthier lifestyle.

It’s essential, no matter what your goal is, to try new things weekly. It’s great for our brain maintenance along with keeping that new car smell.

Keeping things new

“Freshness is essential. That makes all the difference.”

– Julia Child

Finding ways to keep things fresh needs to be a goal in itself. It takes work to maintain your current goals, plus possibly add some. We need to throw in a few spices here and there.

A few creative ideas:

• Plot your improvement
• Find a way to break down your goals
• Rewards can help
• Ask someone to join you

Gathering

Just like you gather ingredients for a recipe, so too can you gather new tools to succeed with your goals.

Making a spreadsheet or a vision in your journal can help keep things fresh.

Sometimes even a new pen or paper can make a big difference.

Breakdown

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chopping veggies for a new recipe is no different than breaking down our goals into bite-size pieces.

If you don’t like onions, omit them. If you don’t like how something goes, omit it from your goals.

There is always a substitute you can add. Instead of giving up, try something completely different. Instead of doing your goal in the morning, try doing it in the evening or vice versa.

Compliments

Compliments on a meal can be gratifying. Rewards can be another gratifying motivator for your goals.

If your goal is going well, a reward is a great way to ignite that spark again.

How we treat ourselves daily is vital to our well-being and will either encourage us to continue our goals or to give up.

Guests

Inviting someone over for a meal can definitely spice up any kitchen. Eating alone can get a little lonely at times.

It’s just like our goals. If you feel bored, perhaps asking someone to join you could make all the difference in the world.

Takeaway

Just like when we cook a meal on the stove, each burner is adjusted to a proper temperature to ensure everything comes together right at the perfect time.

When I’m cooking a more sensitive dish, I always place that one on the front burner to keep a close eye on it so that it won’t burn. Once it’s cooked, I can keep it warm on the back burner. Throw a few spices in the mix and magic.

It’s not much different when it comes to our new goals that we will be adding to our already established ones. We need to keep them on the front burner until they get to the maintenance stage and then we will always need to spice them up again here and there.

I’m writing this in response to Trista Signe Ainsworth’s monthly challenge 1 in her publication, Thank You Notes.

My out-of-the-blue appreciation is that my cooking skills help me to stay focused on goal setting while keeping things fresh. I’m grateful for my skills in the kitchen and my excitement to keep that new car smell with my goals.

Happy goal setting and maintaining!

What will help bring back or keep that new car smell for your goals in 2022?

Monthly challenge 1: