Ten Keys for Reaching Your Goals
Author: David Murphy, PhD, ND, CHT

There has never been a shortage of good advice. We all know what we need to do. We have been told to lose weight, or stop smoking, or to eat more healthy foods, to exercise more, to worry less, or to relax and “chill out”, or to see the Doctor, to stop complaining and to look on the “bright side”, or just to have fun once in a while. For some reason we just never seem to get around to doing it.

1. Decide what you value in life. You will never achieve your goals if they conflict with your inner values. But, if you haven’t ever defined your inner values you might end up with value-goal conflicts.

2. Define exactly what you want to achieve. You can’t achieve a nebulous, fuzzy, goal so make it specific. For example, assume that you want to lose weight . . . How much? By when?

3. Use positive self-talk. Write short, visual, active, present tense, positive and powerful statements that describe the benefits of having reached your goal. Read them out loud several times a day to stimulate your imagination (subconscious mind). Don’t worry if you feel silly at first, you’ll get over it.

4. Find powerful motivators for reaching your goal. If you can find enough reasons why you should reach your goal then your subconscious mind will help you find a way to do it.

5. Write everything down. That means write down your values, goals, positive self-talk or affirmations, and your reasons why. If it is not written down it is not real. You should set daily goals then write them down daily and read them constantly. The outline below identifies what we write down for each of our major goals.

6. Set a deadline. If you don’t set a deadline then your conscious and subconscious minds will keep putting goal-directed effort off to tomorrow, and we all know that tomorrow never comes. All we have is today.

7. Set intermediate goals that lead towards your ultimate target. If your goal is to get an “A” in a class at the end of the semester then set daily study goals and weekly review goals. If you want to lose 40 pounds in 4 months then set monthly goals of 10 pounds per month and weekly goals 2 ½ pounds per week. That is a little more than 1/3 pound per day. The idea of losing 40 pounds may seem daunting but losing 1/3 pound a day is realistic. Take a small steps each day towards your goal.

8. Tell the world. One of the best ways to help you reach your goals is to make them public . . . then you are really committed.

9. Find support. Ask a buddy or a partner to help you reach your goal and ask for their unconditional support.

10. Use an incentive-reward system. Celebrate reaching intermediate and final goals by rewarding yourself. Decide in advance what your reward will be and then enjoy your reward when you reach your goal.

Outline for a Goal Worksheet

1. My goal is to . . .
2. I will reach this goal by (date) _____________
3. My values are consistent with this goal. I value . . .
4. When I reach my goal it will reward myself by . . .
5. Reaching this goal is important to me because (list benefits) . . .
6. My positive-self talk for this goal is . . .
7. My first action step that leads me towards reaching this goal is . . . and I will do it today!
8. I will ask ________________________ to be my support person for this goal on ________ (date).








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Dr. Murphy is the director of the International Wellnes Institute. The International Wellness Institute offers outstanding, low cost, distance-education programs in fitness and wellness. You can study for a professional certificates as a Personal Trainer, Health and Fitness Specialist and/or Sports Nutrition Specialist. Or study for a B.S. in Fitness and Wellness, Masters degrees in Nutrition Counseling or Fitness Management, or Doctoral degrees in Naturopathic Medicine or Hypnotherapy. Please visit our website at www.iwinst.org.

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