It's a funny thing trying to come up with new goals for February that are realistic and achievable, but also a challenge. I looked through all the Fast Break Goals and found I could break them into categories:

1) I already do it, so there's not much challenge to it
2) I know that doing it now isn't feasible
3) I have no interest in it as a habit for me
4) It's not really applicable to me

This is not to say there aren't some great goals in there. It's just that in terms of planning some February goals, nothing jumps out of that list to say “Oh, yeah, lemme do this!”

I will do my usual weight goal. But I don't consider weight my real focus – it's a side effect of what I'm doing, and a good measure each month of the all-around effect of tracking food, drinking water, and working out. I'm also a little ahead of myself since my January goal was stably at or below 220 and I've been 215 today and yesterday.

I was thinking to aim for lower sodium, but was frustrated that the SP tracker doesn't show it as a column. I just discovered a report that shows me the sodium column. I'm a little shocked at where a big chunk is coming from and need to actually check the nutrition label since it's something I used the generic listing for … cottage cheese.

Beyond that, I've been feeling a bit stuck to come up with a goal. February having 29 days makes it tempting to have a set of 4 weekly goals and then leap day to combine them or review them or something. But what to do ...


After coming up short, I spent part of this afternoon searching around on the internet on the topic of goals. First I came across a George Harrison (yes, the Beatle) quote:

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If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.”
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And then I came across this site / webpage and the initial introduction:
www.successfulacademic.c
om/success_tips/Organized.htm

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If I was as organized and as purposeful as I wished to be I would…
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Now those really hit home. One thing I'm really lacking in, and have been for a long time, are dreams.

Certainly I have plenty of hazy ideas of what I want / need. I want to be healthy and fit, to be financially sound, to overcome my emotional baggage, to go back to school and change careers. But, similar to my goal weight, it's more of a nebulous and changeable target that is just to point me in the right direction. I don't know where I'm going any more than a settler pointing west and always aiming for the setting sun.

I do have dreams of a sort, maybe – I know what I'd like to do if I won the lotto and had a few million dollars. But I consider those daydreams, not the kind of dreams to build goals and priorities and a life toward.



No, this isn't mid-life crisis stuff. Even if I never create dreams, I do constantly work toward improving my condition, toward better survival. I am an optimistic realist – I see it how it is and I think it can be better if I work for it.


So the next step in my adventure, I think, is deciding to go somewhere rather than just aiming myself in what is generally the right direction.

I need to flesh out my health and fitness goals a bit more. Most notably, I need to put the results I want into positive terms. Right now most of my idea is that I want balance, so I don't want to be the gym-goer who spends 1-2 hours on cardio daily, grunts through extreme weights to tone. I don't want to eat tofu and sprouts and reject sugar or bread or pasta. Those are all negatives to indicate what, in my mind, is going too far for me. I need to draw the positives.

In addition, I need to flesh out my dreams in other areas – career, relationships, community service (volunteering), creative writing, hobbies, and more.

I need to figure out what my big rocks actually are.

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February Goals

1) Weight stably at or below 210
2) Keep sodium consumption below 3200mg
3) Each week decide on one long-term goal each for health and fitness
4) On the last day, use the long-term goals to create at least two March goals
5) Pick one other life category and work out a goal to work toward