{"id":1771,"date":"2019-01-05T10:18:43","date_gmt":"2019-01-05T10:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coachmentoring.co.uk\/articles\/?p=1771"},"modified":"2019-01-05T10:25:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T10:25:20","slug":"goals-straight-lines-cycles-spirals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coachmentoring.co.uk\/articles\/2019\/01\/goals-straight-lines-cycles-spirals\/","title":{"rendered":"Are your Goals Straight Lines, Cycles, or Spirals?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are your traditional routes to goal achievement working? Our guest blogger Susie Dennis explores different routes to developing new goals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"GoalsIt\u2019s January, my inbox is full of \u2018Goal setting\u2019, \u2018Intention setting\u2019, \u2018Starting 2019 with some sort of lofty resolution\u2019. 2019: make a list of 19 goals. Join us on a 40km or 80km challenge. Linking to Apps with no direct social interaction.\u00a0I am exhausted looking at it!<\/p>\n

We write our lists, set goals, but how do we go about achieving them?<\/em>\u00a0There are no added pages for strategy. The rules are not given for how to \u2018overcome\u2019 all the excuses. No guidelines for the small steps in between Zero to Hero.\u00a0Is the \u201chero\u2019 a list of\u00a0\u2018stuff\u2019, new car, job, place to live, holiday? Is it a list of learning? Courses to attend, interests to take up. Is it is a \u2018health list\u2019, loose weight, eat healthy, more exercise, I \u2018should\u2019 start: running, yoga, meditation?<\/p>\n

Into the fourth day and already the focus has shifted, I can’t start my diet \u2014 there is too much cheese to eat up, can\u2019t waste it.\u00a0It is too cold to start running.\u00a0The New Year sales are too good, preventing control of finances. Inbox at work is too full, meetings to attend. Only a couple of days until the kids go back to school, wanting to spend time with them.<\/p>\n

How can I cope? Is there a better way?\u00a0<\/p>\n

A linear approach to goals<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Do you visualize the path to get there?<\/em>\u00a0Is it linear? Direct? Focusing purely on one goal, blinkers on, until it is achieved? During this time all other interests can and do go to the wall, until the goal is met. All the perceived obstacles are ignored.<\/p>\n

Then what?<\/em>\u00a0If it is a diet, or exercise we all find it difficult to maintain a \u2018normal\u2019 lifestyle. It very quickly becomes un-sustainable and we revert back, whether it is after the goal is achieved or when under stress. The \u2018change\u2019 is not embodied.<\/p>\n

The goals around \u2018stuff\u2019, once attained becomes \u2018so what\u2019<\/em>, what\u2019s next, what can fill the gap?\u00a0The next thing of the \u2018stuff\u2019 list.<\/p>\n

Or cycles to obtain goals<\/h2>\n

\"Cyclic<\/p>\n

If we use the strategy of \u2018cycles\u2019 to obtain the goal, the goal may take a little longer, the focus is variable. Up and down, not completely obliterating other things in our lives, but then again not balanced. When the goal is in focus, everything else falls into the background.<\/p>\n

Will the goal change our lives forever?<\/em>\u00a0Or when under stress, external events take over, and the goal and intention is lost.<\/p>\n

Life Balance<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Life<\/p>\n

To be successful (to achieve a \u2018goal\u2019) one of the above must go, to be really successful two things must go? We have all experienced setting a goal, a diet, a health goal, the family do not enjoy what we eat, and we don\u2019t see friends, for fear of \u2018dropping off the wagon\u2019. If you have career aspirations, the family may never materialise, (to busy to look for a partner), or Health and Family are neglected.<\/p>\n

Yoga is different \u2014 it supports a Spiral approach<\/h2>\n

In the practice of yoga, we may set an intention, and put it to the side. We do the work, but are not attached to the outcome, keeping ourselves, present, open and awake to other opportunities, experiences that may come our way.<\/p>\n

What if we change our mindset, from linear, or cyclic, or even the see-saw balance view, those seeking a \u2018work life balance\u2019, to that of a Spiral<\/strong>. The path we walk along becomes a Spiral, with each revolution, the Spiral becomes larger, encompassing a broader range of experiences, flavours and people.<\/p>\n

So what if you use a spiral approach?<\/h2>\n

\"Spiral<\/p>\n