Sticking to my goals

Post Reply New Topic

I am an all or nothing person but I lose interest in my goals pretty quick. My goals at moment are to work out, pay off my student loan, and learn to drive. But I have trouble keeping to them because I suddenly get interested in something else

I have the same problem. I work on plans towards different goals, but then completely forget I have them. I could have a billboard in front of me, but what it says won't register because I get so distracted by other things.

I have the same problem as well. I can even get quite detailed in my planning in how to approach my goals but then get distracted by something else and end up forgetting my goals entirely.

Persistence is a virtue and doesn't come easily. These things are quite common thogh, and I guess for smaller things, lile, working out, a commitment device can help. (Google that)
The other thing is a social group. If you have working out buddies, it'll be less of a chore, and also harder to quit as you'd also quit your social group.

Warning: first paragraph is an analogy. Please keep reading.

I have sensory issues that require me to look at the ground directly in front of my feet when walking in order to maintain balance. If I look up into the distance at where I am going, I will stumble.

Similarly, if I focus on my distant goals, I will stumble on the individual steps and get frustrated and discouraged. I need to focus on just the two steps in front of me: the first step, to know my current action, and the second step, to remember the direction I am heading in.

For example, this past year, I was focused on replacing one meal (something low calorie (so as not to add too much), high fiber (so as not to feel deprived), and lots of vitamins and minerals (so as not to be deprived)) and taking walks (no speed limit (so as not to feel too pressured), exploring my neighborhood (so as to make it more fun), and increasing distance (so as to make it more challenging)). I lost so much weight, but it felt so effortless.

In previous years, I had tried counting calories and timing my laps around the park and measuring my weight weekly, comparing it to my goal. But looking constantly at my distant goal made it too easy to either take steps that were too optimistically large and risk failure and frustration, or look pessimistically at the relatively small progress I had already made and get discouraged. I did lose weight but it was difficult to lose and easy to gain back.

_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."