By Jody Stevens, Chief Therapist at the Optimal Wellness Center

For some people, implementing the dietary recommendations that result in optimal functioning and contribute to the foundation for physical, emotional, relational and spiritual height is easy, natural and a non-issue.

For the rest of us, it seems next to impossible!

I fall in the latter category and find sticking to ANY dietary recommendation (other than what feels good in the flesh but rots the body and soul), possibly the greatest challenge in life.

I invite those of you who have difficulty in sticking to these recommendations to try the following proposition:

Make It Your Goal!

That's right. In the following pages, we will cover how to set up a concrete goal and ways to obtain it (i.e., get to the finish line). If, after making the dietary recommendations a goal and going for it, you decide the diet isn't for you and your family and friends can't tell any difference in your attitude, looks, demeanor, health, outlook on life, etc., you can revise your goal as you see fit.

If after revising it and trying it again knowing in your heart of hearts that you have given it 110% and you still cannot tell the difference, know that it was a great exercise in self-discipline and you also now have the ability to set goals in other areas of your life.

I have taken much of the information that follows from the book Maximum Achievement written by Brian Tracy. For a greater understanding and knowledge in the goal process and for creating the life you desire, I highly recommend his book.

Steps To Your Goal Achievement

The first thing to keep in mind is that your goal must be congruent with your belief system. I think (or at least hope) we can agree that being healthy is a wonderful thing. Therefore, if being healthy is in your belief system, you are congruent with the goal of mastering the dietary recommendations!

Your mind contains a cybernetic goal-seeking mechanism. Once you have programmed a thought or desire into your subconscious mind, your subconscious and your superconscious mind take on a power of their own that seems to drive and steer you to attainment of your goal, whatever it is.

Unfortunately, less than 3% of adults have clear written goals with plans on how to achieve them. This summary will help you be one of those 3%.

An important tip in developing goals is to use the word "I" with each goal and write it in the present tense. Your subconscious mind responds only to commands that are personal, positive and in the present tense.

Step 1: Develop Desire For Health

A desire is completely personal and comes from within. Our actions are usually based on fear or desire. If you are trying to implement the dietary recommendations because you are fearful that you will stay sick or never achieve the weight or health you would like, you are most likely going to fail. Fear is a powerful force but not one that spurs us toward greatness. Desire, though, is a burning that comes from within and has the power to change our very nature and core.

Step 2: Develop Belief

If there is any doubt in your mind that you may not be able to achieve something, you don't give it your all. In fact, you may very well just set it aside. In order to fully achieve anything, you must believe it is possible at a cellular level. Make your goal of following the diet obtainable.

To tell yourself that you are starting today and that you are going to follow it 100%, may work for some. But it certainly never worked for myself, or the majority of the patients I have worked with and counseled. You also want your goal to be challenging. To say that you are going to cut out fried foods when you only eat fried chicken on Sundays when you are at your mother-in-laws is obtainable, though not very challenging.

But if you have a hectic schedule and are an "eat-on-the-run" person, setting a goal of eating 3 meals per day along with protein every 2 hours is challenging, along with obtainable. Set short-term goals that are leading up to your long-term goal of eating optimally.

Step 3: Write it down

Having a goal of eating optimally, weighing a certain amount, or getting a raise is not a goal if it is not in writing. Until you put it in writing, it is a fantasy. Once your goal is in writing, it is concrete. I would encourage you to write out your goal in 2 ways.

The first way is to put it in detail. Be specific on what your life will be like when you have met this goal. Let your imagination run wild. If your goal is eating optimally, write in detail what your meals will look like and what you will be able to do with all the energy you now have.

Then, put this in an envelope to read when you need encouragement and motivation. The second way I encourage writing it down is in one sentence that capitulates what that goal is.

For instance, you may write

"I choose only foods that add life and vitality to my organs and cells and hydrate myself with clean, pure water."

Take this sentence and write it on several post-it notes. Place them

• in your car,
• at your office,
• on your bathroom mirror,
• and one by your bed
  

Before retiring for the night, read your sentence a few times and then spend 1-2 minutes visualizing what that is like.
I have tried this for several goals and have found this quite successful.

Step 4: Make a list of all the ways that you will benefit from achieving your goal

This is similar to what was recommended above. The reasons why you set your goal are the forces that will move you in the direction of the goal. The reasons may include having more energy, looking better, feeling great, or fitting into a dress I like. Reviewing this on a regular basis will assist in keeping you motivated.

Step 5: Analyze your position, your starting point

This will provide a starting point, a baseline, to measure your progress. If you are doing this to lose weight, weigh yourself and write down where you are. If you are doing this for lowering cholesterol or blood pressure, have your cholesterol or blood pressure measured and write down where you are.

Step 6: Set a deadline

If your goal is to obtain a certain weight, blood pressure, or cholesterol, set a deadline. These are tangible goals. Setting a deadline programs it into the cells to achieve that goal by a certain time, if not sooner.

However, if your goal is intangible, such as optimizing health, do not set a deadline. If you set a deadline on an intangible goal, such as optimizing health or demonstrating unconditional love toward your self and others, the date you set will be the first date your cells are programmed to actually start demonstrating that quality.

If you do set a deadline and fail to reach it, set another deadline.

Step 7: Make a list of obstacles that stand between you and the accomplishment of your goal

After listing all the possible obstacles that you can think of, re-list them in order of difficulty to overcome. The one you list first is your "rock" that you must climb. The obstacles you list may be internal or external. An internal obstacle would be a belief that you have about yourself or an attitude. "This diet is too difficult" and "I don't have time to prepare foods" are examples.

If you have internal obstacles, especially if they are high up on the list. An external obstacle is something outside of yourself such as a spouse who brings you chocolate or friends who like to eat out at Italian restaurants.

Step 8: Identify the additional information you will need to achieve your goal

There are multiple resources available on many subjects. If there is an area you are pursuing, research it and empower yourself with all of the information you can. Successful people are those who obtain and have information. Arm yourself with knowledge on why a desired weight is more beneficial. Know why too high of a cholesterol is dangerous.

Go and research information on the danger of eating sugar. Know why blood sugar metabolism imbalance is dangerous. Setting a goal and going after it without knowing why you are going after it is a sure-fire way of stopping short of your goal.

Step 9: Make a list of all the people whose help and cooperation you will require

This list may include family, friends, co-workers, your doctor and whomever else you deem appropriate. You are going to require the help and encouragement of others in achieving any goal. Although you want to be careful in selecting only those who you know will support and encourage you in the fullest.

Unfortunately, there are people out there who seem to sabotage others, especially when it comes to trying to lose weight or achieve better health. Educate the people you select on the reasons you are working toward your goal. If you present it well, they may even decide to join you and then you will be really supported and held accountable!

Step 10: Make a plan

Write out in detail the entire plan: what you want, when you want it, why you want it, and from where you are starting. List the obstacles to overcome, the information you will need and the people you need to help you. Use steps 1-9 to help with this.

Step 11: Use visualization

Visualization is so powerful. What you see is what you get. And what you eat provides the energy that enables you to become what you want. Picture yourself sitting at a table and only selecting foods that add life and health to the body.
Visualize yourself participating in activities that also add life and provide energy. Picture how good you will feel when implementing the dietary recommendations. Imagine life with health. Take time each day for this. As recommended in step 3, do this at night before retiring while reading the sentence you created.

Step 12: Make the decision in advance that you will never, ever, give up

As they said in Apollo 13: "Failure is not an option."

A lot of the patients I work with at times become frustrated but they do not give up. I have become frustrated at times also with eating optimally and making healthy choices, but I have NEVER given up. When you realize how important food choices are to your core being, you will want to persevere.

Surround yourself with those who are choosing wisely and who care enough about you to hold you accountable. We all have days, or weeks, where we slip. The important thing is that you realize this, admit it and get back with the program.

Be VERY Clear About Your Goals

Clarity accounts for probably 80% of success and happiness. Lack of clarity is probably more responsible for frustration and underachievement than any other single factor.

You could say that the three keys to achieving your goals are "Clarity, Clarity, Clarity." Your success in life will be largely determined by how clear you are about what it is you really, really want.

The more you write and rewrite your goals and the more you think about them, the clearer they will become about them. The clearer you are about what you want, the more likely you are to do more and more of the things that are consistent with achieving them. Meanwhile, you will do fewer and fewer of the things that don't help to get the things you really want.

Seven Step Process To Achieve Goals Faster and Easier

First, decide exactly what you want to achieve.

Second, write it down CLEARLY and in as much detail as you can.

Third, set a specific deadline. If it is a large goal, break it down into subdeadlines and write them down in order.

Fourth, make a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do ao achieve your goal. As you think of new items, add them to your list.

Fifth, organize the items on your list into a plan by placing them in the proper sequence and priority.

Sixth, take action immediately on the most important thing you can do in your plan. This is VERY important.

Seventh, do something every day that moves you toward to attainment of one or more of your important health goals.

Fewer than 3 percent of adults have written goals and plans that they work on every single day. When you sit down and write our your goals, you move yourself in to the top 3 percent of people in our society. And you will soon start to get the same type of results that they do.

Study and review your goals EVERY DAY to be sure that they are still your most important health goals. You will find yourself deleting goals that are no longer as important as you once thought.

Whatever your goals are, plan them out thoroughly, on paper, and work on them every single day. This is the key to peak performance and maximum achievement.

I truly hope that the steps provided assist you in your journey toward health and in creating the life you choose. Setting goals is necessary if you are going to direct your life. May you be blessed with wisdom and love as you go about setting goals and achieving them!

As stated in the beginning, these goals are abstracted from Brian Tracy's book "Maximum Achievement". It is a book definitely worth purchasing and reading more than once. It will greatly improve your likelihood of reaching your goals.

Yours in Love, Health and Peace!