Alright! February is zipping along and we are already three quarters of the way to the end of the February challenge! Think of it as the start of the fourth quarter. By this time in the “game” (or challenge) we should have a pretty good idea how we’re doing. At the start of the fourth quarter, the game is not yet won or lost, but it should be pretty clear what is happening. By this point, the game’s character will have been revealed and all will know if it’s close, or if it isn’t.

So, by now, you will know whether you are tracking along positively with your wellness targets, or if you’re ahead or behind. If you’re behind your target, the first thing I’d say is, “Hey! You had a wellness target – that’s awesome! You wanted to improve something, and you thought it out enough to set a goal.”

Goals are targets. That’s it. They are what we are aiming for. When you don’t have a goal, you are – literally – aimless. Without aim. If you’re telling me you’re in the third quarter and you’re behind your target, I’m quite encouraged because I know you know where you want to get. Maybe this is the first time you’ve tried something like this. Expect to do better next time around. I hope you get a taste of the idea, “Maybe I could actually do this…”

My vision of this wellness challenge is that we first take the risk to try it once, and then we realize that we are capable of on-demand change; we begin to recognize that we can set a goal and strike out in that direction. By definition, motion in a direction (toward a goal) HAS TO move us closer to our goal. I wanted to propose a new word, “aimful”, to represent our basic attitude of moving deliberately toward a goal. Unfortunately, someone beat me to it.*

I hope you have experienced the same kind of reorienting that I have experienced over the past four years. This February wellness challenge has become part of my life, and the wellness activities I enjoy** have expanded throughout the whole year. My wellness vision has been continuously expanding. I hope yours has too!

*earliest use found in Aaron Hill (1685–1750), writer and entrepreneur, according to the online Oxford Dictionary (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/aimful).