Goals. An exciting word yet also a daunting one. Goals are what move us ahead in our lives. Accomplishing a goal can be one of the best feelings in the world. Taking the first few steps on that road toward a goal though can be like walking through mud.

Embarking on the journey towards a goal requires a lot of strength and support, mentally and physically. Take time to think about what your goals are, write them down or enlist the help and support of those around you. Do whatever it takes for you to be successful.

Goals always have to be on top of your mind. To achieve something you need to be thinking of it, always coming up with ways to accomplish your goal. There isn’t always one way to achieve a goal. Think about what works for you and what doesn’t. Pick the path that gives you the greatest chance at success.

In my opinion, daily goals are a great way to get things done without becoming too overwhelmed. They can be small tasks such as grocery shopping, cleaning a bathroom, or working out. Picking one goal a day and making it an absolute priority can make life much more manageable than a page long to-do list.

Daily goals are easier to make realistic, which makes them harder to give up on. The task can be simple enough to achieve but build on a larger goal. Once one goal has been accomplished, set another. You got the birthday shopping done today. Tomorrow you’ll get all the wrapping done.

Not only are daily goals more realistic, but they can also take the pressure off of you. Knowing you have to clean the kitchen tonight when you get home from work is much less stressful than thinking about cleaning the entire house.

It’s like the saying goes “One day at a time.”  Stick with that mentality and that larger goal will become more of an achievement before you know it.

There are two forms of stress – distress and eustress. Distress is the most common referred type. It refers to harmful stimuli that make you weaker and potentially less confident. Examples may include destructive criticism, abusive bosses and family members, your physical envirnoment aka your home, as well as other things in your life that may be bringing you down. Eustress is a positive form and literally translates to “good stress”. It usually is related to desirable events in a person’s life and examples include positive role models who push us forward, physical training to improve our bodies, and risks that expand our comfort zones. Both forms can be equally taxing on the body and are cumulative in nature, depending on a person’s way of adapting to a change. The body itself cannot physically discern between distress or eustress. However, the idea is to equally remove distress and find eustress. As they always say, “Out with the bad, in with the good.” (excerpts taken from http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress).

This blog is going to concentrate on one particular area of your life that may be causing you stress, your home? If your schedule, responsibilites, and daily tasks have gotten to the point where keeping up with your home and the things coming into and out of it are not getting accomplished then your home may be causing some stress. Lets face it, keeping up with our homes can be and usually is a job. Just like any other job a home requires systems and processes for it to run efficiently and effectively. When you are looking for something can you find it or is there a lot of clutter in your home and life? Having an organized system may help. When you want something like your favorite ingredient do you have it? Meal planning will more than likely correct the problem. When its time to leave do you know where that favorite shirt is? A laundry schedule may help you. Are  there always crumbs on the kitchen counter and pots and pan in the sink? A routine cleaning schedule may help you move forward.

Don’t underestimate what a healthy and stress-free home can provide. When we have removed areas of our life that don’t move us forward and maybe even hold us back we are creating positive change for our life and others closely related to it. When you open the doors and clear out some space in your life you are allowing it to be filled up with more things that only you allow. Of course those things are going to be nothing but positive, happy, and fulfilling.