November 8. “This one step – choosing a goal and sticking to it – changes everything.” (Scott Reed)

There is an ancient Chinese proverb from Lao-tzu, which says that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Often when I think of that quote I think in terms of going on a trip. I think of taking the first step out of the door of my house, and venturing out for the long miles.

Today, Scott Reed gives me another way to look at the quote. Any journey, any destination I want to reach in life starts at the moment that I set a goal, and commit myself to stick to it. For me this is quite an easy concept. As those who read this blog know, I am a very goal oriented person. I love setting goals for myself, and then committing myself to achieve them. At any given time in my life I may be working on 4, 5 or 10 different goals.

Back in March, when I started on my journey to better health, I set two goals for myself. First was to lose 10% of my body weight. Second was to combine diet and exercise to change myself enough that I was no longer pre-diabetic. Importantly, I woke up on that Saturday morning and committed myself to sticking to those two goals. Since then I have had good days and bad, ups and downs. I have reached both of those goals, set new goals and reached those as well. I continue to set new goals for myself on my journey to better health, and I choose to stay committed to them. And, yes, that’s changed everything for me.

For my life I know that when I am on the scent of a goal, when I have put myself all-in to reaching it, then I make good choices and I set myself up for success. When I allow myself to be less concrete in my pursuit, or I leave my goals in the wispy world of dreams , then I don’t achieve.

Today my reflection is on how much I love having a goal in front of me.