Welcome to Monday! Did you have a good weekend? Today it’s time to look forward to the week ahead and all the possibilities for a better life out there.

Last week I began a series on goals and what a wonderful response! It seems there are a number of people out there with an interest in goals, so let’s try another one this week.

Sometimes people don’t set goals because they feel if they set one they will be stuck with it no matter what happens in their life. But whose life is it anyway? It’s yours and you can set goals all you want and you can change them anytime that you want! Can’t you?

Welllll, yeeess, sorta. I mean, any goal you set can be changed, but the “but” is -- should it?

A goal that you set was supposedly important to you at the time it was set and so you don’t want to casually discard it. It becomes less of a goal and more of a whim.

If you set a goal of quitting smoking and couple of days later decide that you really, really, need a cigarette and you smoke one -- have you given up your goal of quitting? Not necessarily. You have simply taken a step backward, and if you are still determined to reach that goal you go forward again.

On the other hand if, after having that cigarette, you decide to continue to smoke, quitting has ceased to be a goal, at least for the time being.

Let’s look at another example of setting a goal -- getting a job. For most people that is a necessary goal, but it can sometimes be hard going.

I know a man who was fired from his job at a company he liked. In a couple of days he returned and asked for his job back. Not surprisingly they turned him down.

His friends and family, including his wife, urged him to get a job somewhere else, and he did look a little. However, it was pretty evident to everyone that his heart was not into looking for a job and so things occasionally got unpleasant at home, so much so that the couple ended up in marriage counseling. She was the only one working and creditors were calling and writing and threatening to take them to court.

On occasion he would go back to his old employer and inquire again, but there was always a reason they would not take him back.

But he didn’t give up because he had decided that he was going to go to work for that company again and pursued that goal far beyond what most people would have done. But he had set a goal long ago and last week attained it after a year and half! Can you believe it? I’m sure that you are as excited for him as I was.

He had the right and the encouragement to change his goal, but he had decided what he wanted to do and eventually did it.

An unusual circumstance? Sure. Most of us would have given up and changed our goal, if for no other reason than to keep peace in the family, but he was determined and finally persevered.

Not many of us would have been able to do that. Most of us need encouragement. Sometimes it is helpful for someone to lend a hand in finding and setting goals and then pursuing them.

Meeting with someone on a weekly basis, who will encourage us and help get us back on track when we get sidetracked can get us to our goals quicker. Our goals will be developed more easily and reached more quickly, saving us months and perhaps years, of working and worrying about them.

If I can help you in some way, please feel free to call or e-mail me.

This week’s question is: What do you want less of in your life? (Make a list.)

Until next week - Have a great life!

Forrest Newton, Director
Better Life Coaching
775.304.9115
Job Coaching, Life Coaching, Financial Counseling