R.A.C.E.

With a new month upon us, I have been thinking about what I would like to achieve in March. I’ve never been super goal-oriented in the past. Don’t get me wrong, I have always had personal objectives and worked hard to achieve them, but they weren’t carefully planned.

Until this semester, I approached life with a more laid back approach rather than tackling it head-on. In my public relations classes, we read tons of case studies that always follow the same method: R.A.C.E. This acronym stands for research, action, communication, and evaluation. In order to create a successful campaign or cultivate change, it is necessary that this step-by-step method be followed. Lately, I have been thinking about how this method can also be applied to my own life to achieve my personal, academic, and career goals. We stress in public relations the importance of setting clear, measurable, realistic, achievable goals, as well as a specific timeline to reach them. Once goals are set, you can then determine your course of action to achieve them and then evaluate your results by comparing them to your objectives. This aids in determining why or why not your efforts were successful.

With a schedule as busy as mine, I have realized the importance of prioritizing and setting long and short term goals. I have also begun to write my goals down, as I’ve  found I am more likely to complete them if I have concretely stated them. It’s crucial to determine what your goals are in order to progress personally and professionally. Internships, jobs and promotions don’t just fall into your lap. You have to remove yourself from your comfort zone and aggressively pursue them. Do some research, decide what you want, determine how you’re going to get it, use specific tactics to get the attention of your target, then convince them that you are beneficial to their organization! You can only better yourself as a human being if you know exactly what you want to achieve. Little personal goals need planning too. For example, if your goal is to read more books, you need to examine your daily schedule and determine what activities you can spend less time doing in order to make time for reading, set an objective (read one book a week), and designate a certain time to read each day.

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” -George Bernard Shaw

In one of my favorite quotations, Shaw makes a valid point. It is so easy to make excuses. I get stressed out from time to time due to the numerous commitments I make and sometimes think to myself, “Why do I spread myself so thin?  I could have time to lay around, watch TV, and do nothing but eat dark chocolate all the time if I wanted to.” But then I always remind myself, “Where is the fun and the reward in that? Why would I ever want to boring??!” Setting goals and challenging myself produces valuable rewards that make every ounce of work and stress totally worth it.  My ultimate goal: To live a bold, courageous, meaningful life of integrity and purpose that inspires others to do the same. Like they said in A League of Their Own:

“It’s supposed to be hard! If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard, is what makes it great!”

What are your goals?

an enlightening thought

“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.”
-Denis Watley

Are you a winner??

let it snow!

Today I awoke to a blizzard! A “chance of snow” turned into about half a foot-the most we’ve seen around here in years! My ethics test was canceled, so I threw on my rain boots and went out to play!

Needless to say, I felt just like a kid again. It was so much fun, and I also got a little exercise chasing my doggie around the yard too!

I’ve never been much of a calorie counter. I have made several attempts to keep a planner or write in a food journal and failed miserably.Yesterday, I was browsing food and nutrition blogs and came across Fitting Back In.  She is maintaining a 20 lb weight loss and has one of the most detailed blogs I’ve ever seen. She has her meal plans, daily weight, calories, workouts, and more posted and updated every day. She uses a program called SparkPeople and I was inspired to check it out. On Sparkpeople, you fill out a little background info on yourself and your fitness/weight goals and they create a plan for you based on your preferences and goals. I’ve never been a calorie counter because it is just too tedious (though I have a general idea about how much to consume a day), but now SparkPeople does the work for me! I can enter in what I have eaten for the day and it calculates the total calories, carb, protein, and fat percentages…and the best part is that it’s free! SparkPeople also has a fitness page that keeps up with workouts and calories burned. I’ve lost close to twenty pounds over the last year and would like to drop about ten more by the end of March, so this may be just what I need to stay on track! What do you do to keep track of your goals?