Monkey Mind Monday

Monkey Mind is the chatter that goes on in all of our heads.  The phrase is used mostly to describe the unquiet mind for which meditation is the solution.  However, there are many other ways to conquer the distractions we all experience.  Monkey Mind Monday is about taking a minute at the beginning of your work week to quiet the swinging little chatterer in your head.   Any topic about focus and goal setting or anything to improve your chances of getting something important done is fair game on Monkey Mind Monday.

The way you start the week may very well influence the way you finish the week.  
One way to increase the probability of a good finish is to set just one simple but important mini-goal for the week.  It may be a small but final complete goal, or it may be a step toward a larger goal.  It should, as all goals should be, measurable and concrete.  Another objective person should not only be able to understand the goal but then be able to say with a certainty that it was completed.   

Caution: not all short term outcomes are within your control.  Only behavioral goals have a degree of certainty.   For example if your goal is to lose 2 pounds of weight in a week, you cannot control how your body may respond to your eating patterns. Anything may interfere with the actual weight that shows on your scale.  But if you say, "I'm going to restrict my food intact to 1400 calories" or "...walk 60 minutes everyday after work", you will probably lose necessary weight in due time.  To avoid discouragement, keep it behavioral.   If you're doing the right behaviors, the results will eventually catch up anyway.

Make sure that the goal is small enough to be doable and large enough to be significant.  If it is not significant enough, why should you care?  Keep it small and keep in mind that if you do just one step every week you will have done 52 steps in a year.  That easily will translate into progress toward anything or a bunch of anythings.  Pick a project that has been stubbornly difficult to start or to make progress on.   

Write your weekly goal on something in big and bold letters and stick it where you will see it all day every day.  Post-its are great for posting it.  Keep it constantly out in front of your vision and high on your mental "to do" list.

What happens if the week passes and you haven't accomplished your mini-goal?  Make sure that the goal fits all the rules mentioned above and, if it has, try it again the next week.  If it doesn't fit those standards, it's time for a revision.  But it's important that you keep at it until you've succeeded.

So, what is your goal for this week?