Have you failed this year?

(NaturalNews) We are already two months into 2015, and the majority of people have already given up on their New Year's resolutions. Not only that, only about 8% of people in the United States will reach their goals -- that's a sobering number -- according to study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

One of the main culprits behind this shockingly low success rate is the fact that we have too large of goals. It isn't that large goals are bad -- in fact, they are inspiring -- but the fact that you don't have a plan to get from point A to point B is the reason many goals fail. This is where sub-goals (also referred to as "chunking" your goals) can be incredibly effective.

Sub-goals

So you want to lose 50 pounds this year? Okay, how? If your plan is to just start losing weight and doesn't encompass a temporal or stepping-stones aspect to get there, you will get discouraged and probably give up. With your main goal of losing 50 pounds, start breaking that up into more manageable steps with a sub-goal for each month.

Fifty pounds sounds like an unreachable goal -- especially if you don't have a plan. Try making 10-12 sub-goals like running a 5K, losing 10 pounds in 6 weeks, doing 20 pushups... etc. in order to improve your health as you strive towards your overall goal. These smaller goals keep you engaged, focused and motivated, because they are attainable in a shorter time period. No one likes working hard without success or reaching their goals in a timely manner. That's why these sub-goals are so pivotal; you check them off one-by-one each month as you reach them to help keep you motivated!

Three traits your sub-goals need:

Temporally Scaled -- This is the aspect of your goals that help keeps you on track and lets you know if you are falling behind or getting ahead of the curve. Having timelines for each sub-goal also provides that motivation to get up and get started because time is ticking.

Measureable -- Your sub-goals need to be physically measurable so you know if you have reached them. This means goals like: losing 5 pounds, decreasing your mile runs, decreasing your resting heart rate, doing more reps... etc. It's great to have a goal to "feel better," but that's hard to measure and can leave you feeling unfulfilled -- you can't look at the physically measured improvements! So put some manageable numbers to your sub-goals!

Flexible -- You want to be pushed to reach your goals, but what if you don't reach your sub-goals? Do you simply quit? That is why it is incredibly important to allow your sub-goals to be flexible. If you don't lose 5 pounds in a month, don't give up! Instead, step-up and adjust your upcoming sub-goal to allow you to still reach your overall goal by working harder to make up for the missing ground.

Wrap-up

Keep your overall goal -- it's important to have an overarching inspiring goal -- just make sure to plan a path to get there that can be measured and managed. When it comes to losing weight or reaching your health goals, it's all about staying motivated, staying in the game and doing what it takes to take your health back.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedaily.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.sciencedaily.com

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