Set big goals and then fail - happily!

I set this blog up partly as a way of providing myself motivation on the health/lifestyle/mindfulness path and hopefully someone out there anywhere reads it and it motivates you too.

Anyway it's been a while since I blogged to this site but some things have happened that have made me realize the importance of setting yourself big goals in life and then not just been OK with failing but celebrating the fact.

Bare with me here.

I used to work for an organisation that set its annual KPI's so low that metaphorically, they were no more challenging than walking out to your letterbox and back. One time a new board member dared to suggest that in addition to these mandated KPI's we should also set some 'stretch targets'.

You should have seen the fear on people's faces. What? You mean we actually strive to achieve something a little hard for ourselves even though there's a chance we 'gulp' fail?

And it struck me recently that with my own lifestyle I had been doing the equivalent, setting vague, mild goals for myself, eat healthier, drink less etc. Trouble is those goals were undefined so success or failure was undefined also.

This last month I did something different, I said that I would half my alcohol intake. 

Now here's the thing. I failed.

BUT it's now easily sitting at about 3/4-2/3's of what it was and I can see that the benefits, namely in a bit of weight loss but also in greater migraine control are coming from that. 

SO in essence it was good that I set myself a tough goal and failed because in failure I got further than I would have otherwise.

It was also the same with my desire to go practically vegetarian. 

Again I failed, some weeks spectacularly so, but in the effort I have gone from someone who regularly consumed meat on 15 out of 21 meals each week to some weeks only having 3-7 meals of meat most weeks including many meat-free days.

Again in the effort, in the failing, I have come further than I ever would've if I set a low benchmark of say one meat free evening meal per week.

It's all about how you approach failure. Many of us are too tough on ourselves, but trust me if you can change that part of yourself and set some tough goals and then really try for them you'll end up going much further than you ever would have by playing it safe.

And that my friends is a failure worth celebrating.