What goals have you set for summer & beyond?

I finally reached my goal!

I have a list of goals for summer.  Some of them pertain to my weight management / healthy living journey....some don't.

One thing I usually don't have is a "Plan B" when it comes to goals of any type.  I need to work on that.  It's never an issue unless I meet one of my goals right off the bat.  For instance, one of my summer goals is was to run a half marathon in 2 hours 30 minutes or less.  I'm happy to announce, after 1 1/2 years of busting my ass with countless training runs, 3 prior attempts, and a lot of sweat, a lot of tears, and a lot of physical therapy, I met my goal Sunday morning at the Vancouver USA Half Marathon!  Please go read all about it on my running blog, http://www.willrunforcoffee.com/2011/06/vancouver-usa-half-marathon-recap-psi.html. [LINK]

Yay for me, but now what?  My main goal for summer has been met, but summer is just getting started.  Some of us living in the Pacific North West question whether that's true given the mild temps & constant rain, but it's here.  I have a history of spending time twiddling my thumbs after a big goal has been met earlier than planned, and then I'm easily thrown off track.  Granted, I'm rarely thrown off track for long.  Over time, I've become the master of picking myself up & dusting off rather quickly.  Waiting longer never helped me feel better (or get from Point A to Point B any faster) so I learned to not wait.  Kind of like ripping off a band-aid.  Faster is better!  For me, the key to creating shorter windows of "floundering time" is to plan ahead.  So one of my goals for summer is to be more on top of setting long term goals. Setting a few long term goals will make it easier to set short term goals.  Those long term goals will create a path for me.  In a sense, I will always have Plan B to use if need be because all I have to do is follow the path of my long term goals.  It will lead me where I need to go.  Yes, it all sounds very anal retentive, but sometimes it's a necessary evil.

Today, I'm sitting down and mapping out my five year plan - just as a business would do.  Why?  Because my health (physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual) depends on it!  I need a road map to help navigate me in the proper direction.  I would never set off for a huge family vacation without a plan.  Why in the world would I expect such an important life journey to deserve less attention to detail?  I'll be asking myself several key questions in order to whip up the plan.

• Where do you want to be with your healthy lifestyle / weight management journey in one year?
• Where do you want to be with this journey five years from now?
• Name five specific health and/or fitness related goals you want to hit by July 2016.
• What will it take (be specific) to master each of those goals?

Even if you're not a plan ahead person, read the questions I posted above.  Plant the seed in your brain.  It's great that you want to lose weight, maintain the loss, and be a healthier human, but what good will it do if you have no idea how you're going to pull it off?  

While I sit and re-vamp my own set of goals...tell me yours.  What are your summer goals?  Better yet, how about your long term goals?