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I have made many attempts to set goals since my high school days. Every year, sometime around Christmas, I will be like many other millions around the world who will make wishes for a better life. I will set my new year resolutions, things like, to own a sports car, to ride the roller coasters at Orlando, to learn Japanese... You get the idea. From the advice that I have learned, it is best to write it down and place it where you can see it everyday. So, I will print it on a nice sheet of colour paper and paste it in front of my desk. Cool! Then, what happens?

Before I knew it, it was time to go shopping for Christmas presents again. Wait, this is not the same season. This is exactly one long year later, about 365 days after I set my lofty goals. Have I achieved any of my goals? Your guess is exactly as mine - no. I did not achieve anything at all. In fact, I was nowhere near any of my goals. And the paper that I pinned onto my notice board to remind me of my goals had faded in colour, with a slight wrinkle to it. But since this is Christmas season again, I tore off the old resolution, brainstormed a little bit on my new wishes and printed out another fresh piece of decoration for my board. Yes, I have made my new year's resolution and this time, I am going to make it happen!

Does any of that sound familiar to you? Are you guilty of setting your new year resolutions or goals and not taking actions to realise them? Without a plan, we plan to fail. Without actions, a good plan is useless, too. There are many ideas abound on the internet that tell you to set SMART goals, make step-by-step plans, take massive action, review the actions, improvise and continue working towards your goals. But most of us fail immediately after setting our SMART goals. After placing this piece of colour paper on my notice board on my desk, that was it for me. It just sat there day in, day out. I saw it almost everyday when I sat at my desk. I wanted to achieve those dreams but I did not lift a finger at all. So then, what was the problem?

There is a C-word that many people, even myself, try to avoid. Commitment. I had my ambitious goals, I had the desire but what I lacked at that point in time was commitment to realise my goals. Although I had committed it on paper, nobody else knew about it. Only me and myself. There was nothing to keep myself committed to my own words. If I did not do anything about it, nobody knew. If no one else knew, I would not be embarrassed if I did not reach my goals. It was self-denial, deception, whatever you call it.

Hence, this little experiment that I want to try out here. I am going to set one goal that I have always wanted to achieve but never got to it. For those who know me, I am a skinny guy, always underweight ever since I started schooling. My height is 1.74m and I am now 60kg only. My Body Mass Index (BMI) = 19.81. I want to reach my ideal weight of about 68-70kg, with a BMI within a healthy range of 22.46-23.12. The objective is to build body mass but not fat. I do not want to have spare tires. I plan to achieve this goal by 7th Nov 2010, just a few days shy of my wedding anniversary. There it is, my SMART goal.

The important part of this experiment is YOU. That is right. I need to have accountability partners who can keep me on track, encourage me as I move towards my goal, provide me feedback if there are better methods that I can use, etc. At the very least, even if you are just passing by and reading this blog, I know that I have committed this goal in black-and-white and I cannot backtrack anymore. The next thing that I will do is to put up an action plan and start taking massive action immediately. Over the weeks to due date that I have set for this goal, I will be updating my progress regularly. So, please come back now and then, and give me your valuable feedback and comments. Wish me luck!