Goal progression Book!

NinjaFrodo · Post by **NinjaFrodo** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:22 am

Hey everybody, today i'm going to talk about goals and how to accurately keep track of progress. This is a very important topic because most sufferers of anxiety and depression will base progress on how they feel. Thats not a bad way to do things but it can be more destructive and helpful for us sufferers. The reason behind this is because our condition we have alot of distorted thoughts and this is bound to create distorted feelings. So if we are focusing on these distorted feelings we can often conclude that we are not getting anywhere with a goal when in fact we could be making a tremendous ammount of progress. Even if people tell us how we've progressed we still might not believe it because we do not feel it. Progress is not based on how we feel about it and so if we feel bad about a goal and we evaluate progress based on that feeling it can demotivate us and it can actually make us give up! Is this really helpful?

So how do you evaluate progress and goals and such? My suggestion is to make a Goal book. Write down the goals you want and then break those goals down into smaller things you can do on a daily basis. Each day you're going to want to write out each of your smaller goals and you write down your experience as you did those things....things to write about would be; How effective were you on a scale of 1-100? What was your anxiety before and after doing it on a scale of 1-10? What were you expecting while doing the goal? How did you feel after doing that goal and how did you feel after tracking progress in your goal book?

This puts things into perspective and you can see the reality of your progress. It proves your anxiety wrong and your irrational feelings will start to change. Keep in mind many people will have anxiety come up during those goals and its something good to realize. Get curious as to why this is so. What limitation is there? What are your expecations? What were you telling yourself? You can also use those situations to practice using breathing techniques and progressive muscle relaxation as well.

This will not work for everybody. I suggest you try it with an open mind. Keep in mind that whatever you believe about doing anything will be true. Meaning that if you believe something is definately not going to work then it won't. If you believe it will then it will (it might take awhile but it still will). If you are having alot of trouble then i suggest you check out the categories of cognitive distortions and work from there.

Mike

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:25 am

Wow not exactly sure why i bother to post this kind of stuff here. Well back to my old spot at program section in the support area.

Mike

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 05, 2010 8:36 pm

this isn't a place to sell stuff mmmm2010

Mike

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:37 am

Hey Mike -

I'm not sure why I missed this the first time you posted it, but i did. Hey, don't get discouraged that nobody responded. I know that I often will read a post without making a response. Also, even if your post just helped one person, then it was worth it. Everything you wrote was good advice. I'm glad you took the time to share it.

Jamie

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 2:43 pm

SeaRunner is right.

What was up with all the shoe sales? From China???? HUH...

I will try this when I redo the program. At the least it can track thoughts, patterns o thinking. And who knows it may help as well. Thanks Mike.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 8:32 am

I will recover, I am recovering, each and every thing I do makes me more recovered. I will do everything I possibly can to recover in the most healthiest way because I refuse to live a life based on fear, anxiety and depression anymore.

I didn't realize anybody else responded to this. I guess I just like some confirmation that It is helpful to others.

Mike