Welcome to February folks.
Wait…where the hell did January go?
I have no idea, I must have blinked? Or napped too long?
I just checked, and the date on my computer says, “2/1/2018” – it hasn’t lied to me yet.
So there you have it, it is February 2018.
Now that we got the date thing out-of-the-way, it’s time for a serious conversation. And goal setting. Unlike my post of yesterday, where I dissed goal setting, I’m actually a self-proclaimed Dubious Minimalist Goal Setting Queen (or King if you’re a guy) TM. I do set some goals, and adjust them as I go, and I succeed. The lack of undue pressure in my method is OUTSTANDING and makes it easy to break free from accusations like these whoppers:
- You’re a workaholic
- You’re an overachiever
- You’re such a saint
- You’re so organized
- You’re so disorganized
- You’re such a perfectionist
- You need to get your shit together
- You’re so skinny or fat or whatever weight
- You’re eating too many chips or drinking too much
- You’re not good enough
- You’re a failure (OUCH…that hurts doesn’t it!?!)
If you’re prone to goal setting obstacles in the form of thoughts running through your head, hang around for the rest of this post for an alternative to consider – perfect for the short month of February 2018. February is only 28 days long, a habit forms in 21 days, so you’ve got a 7-day cushion to bounce & relapse on your goals, and in the end, SUCCEED!
You see, the whole deal about goals is that they’re great to help you see IF you did do something, but they can also be so big and grand that they prevent you from ever achieving them. When you don’t achieve them, you feel, well…like SHIT! At least I do. And I hate that about unachievable goals.
I ain’t got time for that. THAT isn’t why I set a goal in the first place. NOPE! I set it to feel good about the results. To achieve what I wanted to. Isn’t that what we all want? I think so. I believe so.
So, what’s my DMGS advice for goal setting?
The goal setting should be GFTH-GFTB.
Good For The Heart – Good For The Brain (#GFTH-GFTB)
In other words, if the goal helps feed your soul, it will free your thoughts and remove obstacles in your way.
A GFTH-GFTB goal is a conveyor to your authentic and beloved self.
Let me digress for a quick story – last year, at this time, I was 20 weeks into my going-gray journey, with roughly 4.5 months of lovely demarcation skunk line outgrowth. I signed up to present to a group of 150 people sprouting a white line across the top of my head. Not a single person said anything to me, (we’re polite here in Wisconsin) but if stares of WTH? could kill, well, you know – that’s how I felt. But I had committed to reaching my goal, and I wasn’t letting anything get in my way to my authentic self. This month, I found out the lady I had presented with passed away in December. I only met her briefly; she was warm, caring, and a beautiful naturally gray-haired woman. She was authentic to herself, those she served, and now she is gone. She is missed terribly by her co-workers and those she helped in her work and home life. Those WTH looks I thought I had received are washed away and mean squat to me now when I consider them in the big scheme of things (aka, life). What matters to me when setting goals is how my hearts feel and how I interpret their impact for the good in life and people I meet and share it with.
February is heart health month. What I love about heart-healthy goals is that they also help keep our brains healthy in the process. The perfect recipe for achievable goals.
As a challenge to myself, I’m going to focus on #GFTH-GFTB activities for the month of February (and beyond…because I’ll love the results).
If you’ve stumbled upon this post and it resonated with you, I’d love to have you join me. No pressure though – if it isn’t something that is GFTH-GFTB to you, by all means, do what works for you!
But if you are up for it, let’s learn from each other and share links back and forth and spread the love of learning how to live with goals that are GFTH-GFTB.
Here are my simple goals for the month (you can make up your own, follow these, or tweak them how YOU see it fits your life):
- Capture a photo (or more) a day that makes a heart skip a beat, or race (by running to grab a camera to catch the moment). If you don’t have a camera, prefer describing in words such moments – then do that – or do both!
- Tag each post with #GFTH-GFTB so I (you) can look back at my (your) progress and remind me (us) to focus on goals that are GFTH-GFTB. These reminders will help me (you) succeed. Include this link back here if you want me to check out your post.
- When I read posts by a fellow blogger that resonate with me as a person who gets the GFTH-GFTB goal setting or thinking, I’ll comment and leave the #GFTH-GFTB link on their post or just the #GFTH-GFTB. Is that acceptable or not…I’m not sure but someone will let me know if it isn’t??
- Have fun, play, learn new things, meet new people, and write about in your journal or blog EVERY day in February!
Happy #GFTH-GFTB February to you!!
Postscript notes: Here are the fun blogs posts I discovered today that I left a #GFTH-GFTB message:
https://fieldnotesfromoverthehill.com/
https://cindimatography.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/weekly-photo-challenge-beloved/
https://m2explore.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/beloved/
https://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/wpc-beloved-x-three/
https://castelsarrasin.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/beloved-weekly-photo-challenge/
I’m so excited to discover more blog posts tomorrow!!
I’m down for it, Shelley!
Yay, I’m so excited to learn from you!!! https://fieldnotesfromoverthehill.com/
Hello Shelley that inspires me and I do fancy joining you, I only ask that you be patient with me as every day in my groggy sleep reduced state will be a hard push. Hm, for me let me say .. in reply to your list there,
1) I can capture something in writing most definitely, a mood of the day? Some news I receive? (I had something libellous a few days ago, that could use some support – can we use things that need action and are hard coping? I see yours is uplifting list items, my recent is a strange one from a mental health NHS employee. I have a fab doctor who may be writing to the girl but I like to get a letter off to the management myself too. Someone to bounce ideas off, would help – or am I driving the opposite direction to what you were saying? Steer me where would this be comfortable for you? Am I giving more details than required? No intents to I’m just putting my situation most pressing – and one I would like a fellow thinker’s support on, if it’s ok? I don’t over load people once I know their boundary line. I’m strong on boundaries myself.
If the above isn’t what you’re thinking about, I can share poems that capture a mood, which particular mood would you suggest? I have a lot and am inspired often. Some sad, some funny, some political, some satirical sending up behaviours. I may be inspired as one of us has posted on the other’s page.
A popular tv series from a few years ago; Merlin had a few really poignant points and I paused the DVD to write quite a few times. One photo posted by a friend on twitter, I saved it and wrote a 2 page poem “ghost of …” – that’s a nice one. Listen to me, rambling 😉 I have a lot of tangents, I think they are in a bowl with the apples 😉
How about ideas for potential blog posts both of us sharing our perspectives and linking to each others page?
2) I love your idea for that hashtag #GFTH-GFTB I would love that on my page 😉
3) Yes I think it’s okay.
4) I love meeting new people and learning new friends. Fun might be a little stretc for me at the moment but I will try to smile, that is my first hope. This all needs to go legal with my housing situation (injunction) then I will be able to rest, after that give me a few months to recover this sleep debt of over 2,000 hours and I will be on track with what you suggest above 😉 just give me time to get back there, that’s all I need. Are you okay with that? I promise you I am like a puppy here chomping to get something meaningful back, so your post above is just what the doctor ordered.
Best wishes, Shar.
Hi Shar, you got it – do what works for you, when you’re up for it, and yes, I’ll reply and enjoy reading what you’ve shared. Hang in there, get some rest and participate when you’re able to! Best wishes to you too!
There’s hope for February! HOORAY. There’s a poem on Poetry Foundation website today that ‘s worthwhile reading and for me is definitely GFTH/GFTB. It’s by Nikki Giovanni and pertains to Feb. as Black History month. Here’s a line or two and the website:
If Black History Month is not
viable then wind does not
carry the seeds and drop them
on fertile ground
…
The website is https://www.poetryfoundation.org. and the title of the poem is BLK History Month
Ellen, LOVE your reply and great to see you excited about joining in to have fun this February!! Love the poem too!!
While I do admit, I have reflected a lot on the WTH moments and wondered WHY did I give a shit? I flat out refuse to allow the greys to take over! No way, Shelley. LOL.
Donna
I’m sitting here, coffee in hand, chuckling 💭 thinking 🤔 “why not play along. It’s got to be easier than the 100 day happiness challenge, right?” 😳 Plus, I’m up for a bit of Good For The Heart – Good For The Brain (#GFTH-GFTB) Challenge it’ll make the world (ok, at least my little slice) a better place. 💕 thank you, Shelley, for the inspiration.
I love it that you’re up for the challenge and that you appreciate a shortened version…holy crap…100 days?!?! But, it might be warm by then, and a real beach might be possible??… I look forward to reading your posts for the GFTH-GFTB challenge :-)! Thank you, for sharing your slice of the world with me!!! 🙂