The Road to: Goal-Setting!

Welcome 2015! I welcome you and the opportunity for a "fresh start." I've been waiting to post about our goals for the year because I hate new years resolutions. I don't hate the fact that people try to set goals, but people often set huge goals and forget about them by February or March. In fact, statistics show that by February more than 90% of the resolutions made have been broken. At church a couple Sundays ago our bishop was telling us that only 8% of people keep their New Years resolutions. But why is it only 8%? That's a pretty sad number! This purpose of this post is to help you make your goals easier and stick to them :)

"It's never too late to be what you might have been" -George Eliot

Here are some of our suggestions for success:

1. Positivity, positivity, positivity! 

Part of the reason only 8% keep their goals is because most people do not have positive goals. In fact, their goals are negative in nature! How you think about your goals definitely influences how you feel about them and whether or not you will achieve them. Negative goals are very hard to focus on because they are emotionally "unattractive." So be happy and positive! Some very common negative resolutions/goals are "I will lose weight this year," or "I will stop staying late at work." Losing or stopping have very negative connotations and imply a void that needs to be filled. If you simply rephrase these goals to "I want to be healthy and fit" or "I will spend more time with my family" you will be amazed how much more motivated you become! (I'm serious!) I'm the kind of person who gains weight when I'm stressed. Enter dental hygiene school: suddenly leaping from a very active lifestyle to sitting down from 8-5 every day in a high-stress environment. Slap a knee injury on top of that and I had a serious problem! I found myself gaining about 40 pounds in a year!! I kept trying to go on diets, and my husband kept teasing me because he knew I couldn't follow them. Viewing food as "I can't have that" made it so much harder for me! I have recently changed my mindset to "I won't have that" and I've (finally) stuck to a diet and lost 14 pounds in these past 2 weeks! (Which put me below the "overweight" threshold! Hooray!)

2. Appreciate failure!!!

I found this quote that says "When something goes wrong in your life, just yell 'Plot twist!' and move on." I LOVE THAT.

No matter how hard you work, you are bound to fail from time to time. EVERYONE HAS BEEN THERE. The direction we are moving is so much more important than where we currently are. Do not get discouraged if you make mistakes! Do not be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try! Learn how to fail successfully. Your failures have lessons that can change your life for the best if you have the courage to learn form them.

"How we respond in any situation has to make things better, not worse." 
-Jeffrey R. Holland

Just pick yourself back up off the ground and try again. Things like this speak volumes about your character.

3. Set "S.M.A.R.T." goals.

It's great to unleash your imagination when setting goals. Go ahead, dream big dreams! Just make sure that they are realistic. I've made a goal to compete in a fitness competition, but I'm not about to go sign up for one next month! My dental hygiene program had a class a few semesters back that required us to make goals based off of the SMART method:

Specific- Exactly what is it you want to accomplish? The more detailed, the better the goal
Measurable- In what ways can you measure your goal so you know you're making progress/succeeded?
Attainable- Is this goal something you can actually accomplish?
Realistic- Do you have the capability, resources, and physical ability to reach your goal?
Time-bound- How much time will you allow yourself to accomplish this goal?

If you would like to see one of my S.M.A.R.T. goals from school, scroll down to the end of this post :)






5. Set a series of little goals and reward yourself for accomplishing them.

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." -Vincent Van Gogh.

Allow yourself to be a beginner. No one starts off being excellent! To my husband and me, it's all about the little goals: the daily, weekly, monthly goals. The decisions we make today form tomorrow's reality. (Seriously! What we do today can pay dividends tomorrow!) So you want to run a marathon but you have never been a runner before. If you don't make little goals, and I'm talking SUPER SMALL goals, the goal to run a marathon instantly becomes unattainable. If you make small goals to run 8 minutes today, a mile tomorrow, so on and so forth, you are so much more likely to have success. If you're trying to lose weight, possibly just make a goal to eat one healthy breakfast this week. It's all about the baby steps.

But why the baby steps? You need momentum, and nothing builds momentum like getting a few wins under your belt! This helps you build up belief in yourself, which is essential for perseverance. Feel free to reward yourself! If you ran as long as your goal was that week, go get a pedicure! Eat that piece of cake you've been craving! Get a massage!

5. Check up on yourself and be accountable!

Reviewing your progress is essential. It takes time to accomplish goals and it can really feel like you aren't making any progress unless you sit down and take a serious look at everything you have accomplished. Set small goals within the goals to help you reach them, celebrate your successes, and analyze what needs to be done to continue moving forward. It doesn't matter how slow you are moving as long as you do not stop.  This goals class I had to take in school required us to send in biweekly goal updates. This is where we had to evaluate what we had done so far, how far we made it, and gave us an opportunity to change our goals if we so chose. We would change our goals based on what we learned. Had our priorities changed? Do we need more time for this goal? etc. I loved the fluidity of it because people and things are always changing, so why shouldn't our goals change with us?? "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream" -C.S. Lewis

The other thing I loved about the biweekly updates was it held us accountable. Our teacher knew exactly what our goals were, and we had to report to her on a regular basis. It could greatly benefit you if you told a loved one or someone you are around a lot about your goals so they can help you and hold you accountable.




6. Do not set other peoples' goals!!!


"Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?"

Some people think that they know what's best for you. Who knows, maybe sometimes they do! But do not let people influence the goals you set (your boss, your family, your friends).

It's important to maintain these relationships, and it is certainly important to listen to your boss, but your goals need to be your own if you are going to succeed. You have to do it for you. Maybe everyone arounds you wants you to quit smoking, and you know you should for your health, but unless it is YOUR idea it is going to be really hard to overcome those cravings and break the habit. You can't have other people motivate you. Your motivation and determination needs to come from within.

(If you are seeking smoking cessation help or advice, please feel free to email me! I have obtained plenty of resources for you throughout my dental hygiene education! I'd love to help you out!)

2 examples of my  S.M.A.R.T. goals from the beginning of dental hygiene school:

1. I will improve my ultrasonic scaling technique starting May 21^st and ending July 21^st because the ultrasonic scaler is awkward for me to use, so I am not reaping the full benefit of this instrument nor properly removing calculus with it. I hand-scale much more effectively than I scale with the ultrasonic which I know ultimately increases my patient treatment time. I will measure my progress by exploring following ultrasonic use to see how much calculus I missed. I will record how many sites I missed as well as how many there were to begin with and take a percentage so that it is equally measurable among my different patients. I will improve by at least 2 deposits each clinic session until I am equally comfortable using the ultrasonic as I am my hand-scalers. I will ask my partner, classmates, and instructors for advice. I will come to extra clinics as needed to practice until I am comfortable with both probe-style and curette-style and write in my clinic journal how I felt about using the ultrasonic that day.  

(Can I just say that I have DEFINITELY achieved this goal because the ultrasonic/piezo are my absolute favorite instruments?!)

2.  I will be working as a valuable clinical dental hygienist with good rapport at least 20 hours a week because I want to have a rewarding job in the healthcare profession that allows me to use what I have learned to help others. I will attain this goal by continuing to study and maintain good grades in dental hygiene school so I can graduate with my BSDH and also pass my Boards exams.  I will do continuing education courses as frequently as I can to maintain my license and remain up-to-date on current dental hygiene findings and practices. I will measure this goal by monitoring the amount of hours the dentist I work with wants me to work and by how receptive my patients are to me.

(Well, this goal hasn't changed. I didn't add rewards for either of these goals because achieving them are rewards in themselves for me)

So what are some of my husband's/my goals for 2015? (I'm not writing these out like the ones above) Just a sneak peek:

1. Get a great job as an awesome hygienist. (Mine)
(See the goal above) This requires me to pass boards, graduate in April, etc. I'm not going to be an awesome hygienist if I can't even pass boards, and I won't really graduate until I pass boards. Both boards and school are negative things in my mind so this focuses on the positive end result! (Look out April- I'm coming for you!)
2. Place in a fitness competition.  (Ours)
This requires us both to get in shape- eat healthy, lose weight, tone our muscles, etc but focuses on the positive end result of placing! We have also set a time limit because we have specific competition dates we've signed up for! I have laid out a series of ways to measure this goal. Ask me if you're looking for ideas!
3. Remember the good times. (Mine)
I am so bad at journaling, thus this blog that I haven't even told my friends about. This is me trying to keep track of my life. I will be posting important things that happen (though trying not to mention the negative), random things from my past that I want to remember, lessons I've learned, and a whole lot of positive quotes I come across. The positive quotes are to keep me in a habit of posting even when in a hurry and to share positivity with others. Baby steps ;)