CAROL’S CORNER

Welcome to another new day in Carol's Corner. Well the cold weather has begun again. It's 1:03 AM and it's already below freezing at 30°. Not looking forward to winter at all. This ensemble was my church outfit on Sunday. But think I wore it most of the day. I love wearing dresses. A funny story on this one. I had this dress for the longest time and didn't realize that it was Navy not Black. One day I happened to put something black next to it and remember saying,” Oh my God this isn't black, it's navy blue.” I picked the current winner of naming my ensemble because it just made me laugh when I read it. The winner was Kristi Johansen Santeramo with, “Spot The Hottie.”

I went with all white pearl like accessories except my FitBit band, which is one of the new ones I just purchased. It's really a pretty one in black and white.

I'm enjoying these smaller clasp covers because I can make different color combinations. You can combine as many as you want.

I was ecstatic when I finally found a watch like this that fit. It is one I've used frequently this past few months.

For this edition of Carol's Corner I'd like to talk about goals and goal setting again. The sentiment in the above graphic can really make you stop and think. Do people really go through life not setting or having goals for themselves? How can one live day to day without at least having some kind of goals in mind as they go about the journey we call life? They might not be written down or even enunciated, but every day we get out of bed we must have some kind of goals in mind for that day. We might have to get to work on time, (most people do) we might have projects that need to be completed before we can head home for the day, we might have to get everything we have on that grocery list. You name it, just about everything we have to accomplish in a day involves some kind of goal. So, when it comes to our weight loss or fitness goals, goal setting is very important and even when we have them they need to be reevaluated from time to time. So how do you go about goal setting? Let's use the following as a guideline.

As you can see by the picture this blueprint for goal setting is called “SMART” for short, with each letter corresponding to a specific attribute. So let's get started. S stands for “Specific“. When goal setting you need to set specific goals. Take out pen and paper and start listing what they are. Some might be short term, others long term. Place each one in whatever place they belong in your list of goals, but be specific about what they are. Putting pen to paper just might help you when you see them in black and white. Next we have “M“. M stands for “Measurable.” Your goals can be quantitative (number based,) like I need to lose 30 pounds or be descriptive (like I want to fit in this pair of jeans.) This is just a simple explanation but I think you get the point. Next up is “A“. A stands for “Attainable.” Here you need to set a goal that you believe you can attain. This is where you probably want both short term and long term goals. Focusing on short term goals is always better than thinking too far down the line, where you tend to just feel overwhelmed by what it will take to get there. Next up is Relevant.” Does this fit in with what you need or desire in your life at the present time? If you're already on this journey I'm sure the answer is yes, many times over. And the last part of this is “T” which stands for “Time–Bound.” This means setting some kind of time frame. Depending on what your weight loss goals are, you probably have to break your goals into short term and long term time frames. You might even make a weekly benchmark to shoot for. By having some kind of time-frame involved it makes it more real to you!

Here is a link to a more lengthy explanation of “Smart” using both words and pictures to explain. I think you will find this both useful and helpful. I hadn't done a link in awhile, wasn't sure if I remembered how. Phew!!! Remember, you can revisit and revise any part of this as you go on your journey. Remember also, it's yours and no one else's.

http://m.wikihow.com/Set-SMART-Goals

I might have more on goals tomorrow, but I'd like to close with this for tonight.