Coach Cassandra Rae

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You can purchase this for your goal-minded and/or Jewish dog at Cafe Press.

So SMART Goals turned into SMARTY Goals, and then – upon reaching a goal myself this week – I was determined to add some Celebration or Fun into that acronym. But SMARTYC didn’t, uh, work. Neither did  RATMACYS or MYCARTS or, my favorite, MYFARTS (even though anything with the word “fart” is hilarious to me, a 31-year-old woman). So, instead of thinking about your farts when you try to accomplish a goal, think about giving them CHUTZPAH!

According to Mirriam Webster, chutzpah (pronounced “hutz-puh”, and if you can make that sound at the beginning where you’re clearing you’re throat that’s more accurate) means “supreme self-confidence; nerve; gall.” For me, a Jewish girl that grew up around that word, chutzpah means “guts“. Chutzpah means “sass“. Chutzpah means “pizzazz“. Chutzpah means “oomph.” I love that word so much that I was this close to calling myself The Chutzpah Coach instead of The When I Grow Up Coach.

So gather round and hear how to turn your SMART Goals into Goals with CHUTZPAH!:

C is for Celebration. I know it seems silly putting it as the first step, but if you can set what the celebration will be at the finish line, it’ll help you stay focused to run the race.

H is for Honesty. Be honest with yourself: can this goal be accomplished? Is it too big? I’ll repeat myself by saying “ A 44-year-old woman with 2 years of government experience in a state with half a million people should not say “I want to be Vice President.” A 58-year-old man with no government experience should not say “I will be nominated as President in the next election.” Instead, a more honest goal would be to say “I will run for City Council in the next election.”‘

U is for Unique. You have to make sure that this goal is yours & yours alone. Not your brother’s, not your boss’, not your wife’s. Yours.

T is for Timely. You need a start date, an end date, and a date for the milestones in between. I’ve recently discovered that the main thing I need to accomplish a goal is a deadline. Give yourself one.

Z is for Zest. Yeah, I know, “zest” is a weird one. But it didn’t seem to be when I looked up the definition and found it to mean “anything added to impact flavor, enhance one’s appreciation; liveliness or energy; animating spirit.” I had zest for writing a “boring” research paper because I picked a topic that interested me, and would benefit me as a coach. That made the goal of “finish research paper” into something fun and not a chore.

P is for Precise. You need to be specific about choosing your goal. “I want to lose weight” has a lot less holding power than “I’m going to lose 10 pounds by running 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 4 weeks.”

A is for Assessable. Again, I’ll quote myself by saying, “It’s easy to measure if you jogged in the park for 2 miles on 3 separate days this week. “I want to start exercising again” can be measured by Jack. Jack Squat, that is.” I amuse myself.

H is for Honor. This is where you put the Celebration into practice, by Honoring your win and getting that massage / going to that nice restaurant / having an uninterrupted DVR viewing / whatever you decided was going to be your celebration for reaching that goal.

These CHUTZPAH Goals come with a money-back guarantee. If you follow all the steps and your goals don’t get reached, you can get a full refund. Why would I make such a promise? CHUTZPAH! (Duh).

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March 14th was my 6 month anniversary, & while I can’t bill myself as some Big Authority when it comes to making a marriage work, I have no doubt that my husband will be The One forever. Why? Because:

• We have the same foundation. This means our values and priorities are similar – we both value family above all else, but also hold our artistic endeavors, financial stability, and our friendships with high regard.
• Our “timing” was right. We found each other when we were both about a year out of long-term, live-in relationships without a “serious” relationship in between. I think we were both equally cautious about starting something serious again, while also both wanting a lasting relationship.
• We treat each other with respect. There was a time when I was uncomfortable with the fact that my husband & I have never had a fight (we’ve been together for 3 years), but that didn’t last for long. If a relationship feels like a struggle or a battle every day, it’s not The One for you.
• His friends & my friends have become Our Friends, and the same goes for our families. This wasn’t some sacrifice either – I genuienly believe that if I met His Friends first, they would have been My Friends. And I know that even when The Girls invade our apartment Luke doesn’t retreat because he likes the conversation (at least he does before the “What do guys really want in a girl?” and “Do guys really talk about their sex lives to each other?” questions start shooting in his direction).
• We respect our time together & we respect our time apart. This might boil down to trust, but I’m wary of couples that do EVERYTHING together as well as those that do NOTHING together. My hubby and I respect each other’s Girls Nights Out and Boys Nights Out, but always invite each other to every other social occasion.

I think that if you have to boil it down to a feeling besides “love”, it’s “luck”. Luck that you found this spectacular person, luck that he fell for you (of all people!), luck that you get to spend the rest of your life with him…..I feel lucky each and every day that I have with Luke.

If you don’t have that special someone yet – one that you can give an “l” word to (love, luck, or lust!) – then use this time to honor yourself for not being in a relationship that “wastes the pretty.” It takes strength to not get caught in a romance (or marriage!) where you don’t feel lucky each and every day (although you might feel comfortable, or content, or another “c” word – like crazy?). Use this time to celebrate your strength!*

*Or drink cosmopolitans with your girlfriends & flirt. A lot. Either way…..fun!

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SimplyFearless.com founder Cassandra Rae serves as a Sexy Shoe Model for the Viva La Diva Spring Fling {she’s the 2nd model}

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I just received an email from TheWeblogZone letting me know about ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog eCourse and it is hot!  I absolutely love the concept and that it’s FREE!  Woohoo!

All you do is enter your name & email here and ProBlogger will send you one email a day for the month of April with a tip and an assignment for you to begin rockin’ out your blog one day at a time.  It’s simply brilliant.  There are literally thousands of people already signed up and I am one of them.  Here’s what the creator has to say about why he’s running the program:

The idea behind this is simply to have a group of bloggers setting aside a month of their time to work at improving their blogs. While we all want to have better blogs sometimes it becomes one of those things that we’re going to do…. one day.

I personally find that I improve (in all areas of my life) when I’m more intentional and set aside a specific time to make the improvements. That’s what this project is about.

ProBlogger.net is an amazing resource for bloggers.  Oh! And I just remembered that with this 31 Day Challenge Darren is also providing a private forum for all of the participants to interact with one another.  What a great way to expose your blog to thousands of people.

I hope you will join us!

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Are you looking for love? Inspirational Catalyst Christine Arylo says that true love is closer than you think – watch this video about Choosing Me Before We!

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