Goals vs. Deadline

My goals:
*to shed 7 pounds (okay, I'll take 5lbs but would love to get rid of 7)
*to paint the rest of our house...by Christmas (Christmas of 2012 would be great)
*to finally hang pictures in the house
*to finish writing the 1st draft that I'm working on by September (as in 3 months from now)

My deadlines:
*None (I just had my 4th baby, I'm not giving myself deadlines right now!)

Goals and deadlines. Deadlines and goals. They ARE different and knowing that they are different when you set your goals or deadline can make all the difference in how to react to them if you don't reach them (wow..that was a long sentence).

I think both goals and deadlines are important to have in life, in any area. They help us to focus, they motivate us (sometimes, depending on the person), and in the end, both they are satisfying. But I think all too often, we forget (or don't realize) that they are different things, at least I think so (oh look, so does the dictionary!).

Goal: the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result 

Deadline:  the latest time or date by which something should be completed

I think all to often, we tend to forget that goals ARE different from deadlines, thus causing us to feel defeated. And, when we feel defeated, we start calling ourselves names, start feeling as though we'll NEVER accomplish what we wanted to do in the first place and in some instances, give up.

Remember, a goal is something you're aiming for, a DESIRED result--not an absolute result--do you still feel defeated if you don't reach it? Sure. I do. But, I think you have to change the way you look at it. Did you get accomplish more from when you first started? Yes? Score!

Did you at least lose 2 pounds of the baby weight? Yes? Score!
Did you at least paint one room? Three rooms? Yes? Score!
Does at least one room have some pictures hanging? Yes? Score!
Were you able to write all but the last 5 chapters? Yes? Score!

I think we sometimes tend to lose sight of where we started and forget to celebrated the things that we did accomplish along the way of reaching our goal--whatever it may be.

I know for me personally I'm celebrating that I was able to get this blog post up! Yes, it might be a bit rambley (is that even a word?) because I'm also trying to manage 4 little kids while typing this, but it's up and I hope think you get my point--as long winded as it is.

Let's discuss!

What are your goals? Do you have any long term? Any weekly? How do you respond when you don't reach them?

Do you have any deadlines that you HAVE to meet? How will you respond if you don't meet them?