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| Leslie Living After Stroke |
3 years ago, the stroke completely derailed my goals, ambitions, and plans. It consumed my whole world. It will always be part of every decision & action but it does not need to be the only focus. It is just another obstacle to address when working towards creating a life worth living.
I am constantly setting mini goals to accomplish weekly & daily. Although they all lead me closer to some dream, they are random. They are not focused enough for me to say in a year from now, “I did it! I accomplished what I set out to do”.I am dedicating 2016 to setting, planning, and implementing new goals and modifying old ones for every area of my life.
Originally, I was going to dedicate December to accomplish this but upon reviewing the goal setting process this past week, I have decided that my stroke deficits would prevent me from successful completion.
Spending a month on each area of my life will produce more solid attainable goals. It will give me the time necessary to decide what I really want, determine the resources I really need, and create strategies to overcome the obstacles I know will arise.
Now my goal for December 2015 is to create S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound) goals for every area of my life by December 31, 2016.
Why Set Goals?
Setting Goals:
- Gives you direction
- Shows you your priorities
- Makes decision-making easier
- Keeps you focused & more efficient
- Increases self-confidence
- Increases motivation
- Propels you forward
I believe that goal setting is even more important after a stroke than before.
- The focus helps distract us from the helplessness strokes cause us to feel. Goals give us back some control over our lives. It may not feel like you have much control when you need so much help but we actually have more control than we think.
- Working proactively towards a goal, any goal, shows us we can still make many of our own choices.
- We have limited spoons after a stroke. Knowing that we’re using our limited energy on our priorities is extremely important. Priorities WE establish based on what WE DECIDE we really want to accomplish in our lives.
The resources and tools we need to accomplish our goals will be different. Hell, our goals will be different. There’s no reason we shouldn’t have life goals and still work towards them just because we had a stroke. All our goals shouldn’t be stroke related either.
Originally, I was going to include goal planning info in my Healthy Living for Stroke Survivors Facebook Group and have goal discussions there but I changed my mind. Goal setting & planning is quite involved and I decided to create a separate private group to use for discussions, sharing goal related topics, resources, tools, and guidance.
Join the Group!
If you’re interested in participating (yes, this is limited to participants – no lurkers please), message me on Facebook saying you want in. This group will be very proactive and we will create actionable plans for achieving our goals.
Message me now to join the group! The group is completely private. You can’t find it by searching and no one except other members will know you are in it. The only way to join is by invite. After I receive your message, I will send you a friend request (if we’re not already Facebook friends), once you accept the friend request; I can add you to the group.
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