Author: Dan Clark

In my last post, we talked about reforming your New Year’s Resolutions, New Year’s Solutions, or goals into SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.  How are you doing with those goals?

Many of you are probably at a critical decision point right about now.  Experts tell us it takes about 30 days for a new or different action to become a habit.  Unfortunately, many us begin to lose focus on our new goals after 10-14 days.  So, this is a critical point in establishing those new habits or goals.

If you are having trouble staying on track towards your new habits, consider this.  At some point you will “fall off the wagon.”  It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’  You might have a bad day, be emotionally upset, be busy, etc. and eat that food you are trying to avoid, or skip the workout, or smoke that cigarette.

Now what??

Here is your critical decision point.  As I see it, you now have two choices.  One, you throw your hands in the air and exclaim “I can’t do this” or “This is too hard!” and abandon your goals.

Second, you can step back for a moment and tell yourself, “Well, that isn’t what I wanted to do.  This mistake isn’t taking me where I want to go.”  Further, review the situation where you strayed off track and try to figure out where things went sideways.

Then, remind yourself how important this life change is to yourself, and “get back on the wagon.”

Last time, I gave the example of wanting to post a blog on the 1st and 15th of the month.  If you check the date on this post, I’ve obviously missed that goal already.  So, I have a choice – abandon blogging altogether because I cannot keep to my desired schedule or get the blog out ASAP!  I decided to get back on track as soon as I could, and to hit my goal on the first of next month.

You can give up and quit on yourself, or you can gently remind yourself why what you are doing is important and restart down the new path you’ve chosen.

Your choice.

Are you looking forward to 2017?  Anything you’d like to change in your life? Whether you call them New Year’s Resolutions, New Year’s Solutions, or simply goals, many of us want to make changes in our lives.

A common goal making challenge is stating “I want to be a better parent, spouse, or partner” or “I want to lose weight,” without defining how you will know if you are making progress.  How do we define “better” parent, spouse, or partner?  If we lose one pound, have we been successful?

This year, try making SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely goals. The SMART technique allows you to fine tune your goals into something more easily achievable.

For example, many people know I am new to social media and blogging.  Although I have written many articles, book reviews, book chapters etc., over my career, blogging is much different.

So, if I want to be a “better blogger” in 2017, what does that mean?  Let’s reframe my goal to be a “better blogger” using the SMART technique.

S – Specific.  Decide specifically what/why/which I want to improve – being more consistent in blogging, increasing the frequency of blogs, maybe ask what I want to accomplish.  Let’s say I want to blog twice per month, averaging approximately 300 words per blog.

M – Measureable.  Ask how much, how many, how often.  Let’s say twice per month, preferably on the 1st and 15th (plus or minus one day).

A – Achievable.  Ask if I have the needed resources, time, skill, or background.

R – Realistic.  Determine if this goal is something I can realistically accomplish.  Is the goal too high or too low?  Envision Goldilocks and her too hot, too cold, and just right porridge.  What is just right or realistic for you?

T – Timely.  Set a time frame for this goal.  A realistic time frame might be that within four months I am habitually meeting this goal.

So, “I want to be a better blogger” becomes a SMART goal of “Within four months, I want to consistently publish a blog of approximately 300 words on the 1st and 15th of each month.”

This is just the barest of outlines for using SMART goals.  For more information, search for “smart goals” or “smart goal worksheets.”  Google lists over 27 million results.  For those of you who are more visual, specify you want to see images (over 4 million hits).

If you have questions or comments, please contact me at drdan@criticalconcepts.org.

Happy New Year!

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2016, as Veterans Day. I encourage all Americans to recognize the valor and sacrifice of our veterans through appropriate public ceremonies and private prayers, and by observing 2 minutes of silence for our Nation’s veterans.”  Presidential Proclamation — Veterans Day, 2016

Here are a few interesting details about Veterans Day from the Department of Veterans Affairs website:

·Veterans Day does not include an apostrophe but does include an “s” at the end of “veterans” because it is not a day that “belongs” to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans.

• Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.  Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served – not only those who died – have sacrificed and done their duty.
• “Armistice Day” was established in November, 1919, one year after the conclusion of WWI to commemorate the cessation of hostilities – an armistice – on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  In 1954, at the urging of veterans service organizations, Armistice Day became Veterans Day.

Two websites with resources regarding veterans.

• Ken Pope publishes multiple pages of resources on his website.  On Resources for Troops & Veterans, Families, & Clinicians, Dr. Pope states “I collected the following resources to make them more easily available to military troops and veterans, their families, and those who work with them.”  These resources include 126 articles published between 2013-2016 on issues relevant to veterans and their family members.  In addition, he links to 38 helping organizations and programs, plus 14 links to United States military organizations.
• Every year, many companies thank our veterans by offering free or discounted items or services to them. See http://militarybenefits.info/miscellaneous-discounts-veterans-day-deals-veterans/ or do a search to find additional offers.

Please thank a veteran today!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, a visitor to my website or Facebook page, or have attended one of my workshops, you know I talk frequently about the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Type the word “suicide” into Google and you get over 305 million search results, or use Bing and get 14.7 million results.  At the top of both search results is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number plus a link to the website.

In 2014, the Lifeline reported answering approximately 1.5 million calls throughout its network of 165 crisis centers.  Since it’s formation in 2005, the Lifeline crisis centers have answered more than 5 million calls.

The Lifeline, however, is more than just a telephone number.  You can:

• Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or
• Text 838255, or
• Chat via the chat button on the website, or
• If you are a veteran, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255), then press “1” to speak to someone specially trained and experienced in helping Veterans of all ages and circumstances, or
• Talk to a counselor in Spanish at 1-888-628-9454, or
• If you are deaf or hard of hearing, contact the Lifeline via TTY by dialing 800-799-4889
• If you have lived experience, visit the Lifeline’s lived experience site at lifelineforattemptsurvivors.org.

In addition, the website has a wealth of pages containing helpful information for youth, veterans, LGBTQ+, disaster survivors, loss survivors, professionals, etc.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is funded by a grant from the National Suicide Prevention Initiative (NSPI), a multi-project effort to reduce suicide, led by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services.

If you are interested in more of my background, want to review my CV, or are interested in my upcoming trainings, please visit my website at criticalconcepts.org.

One of my projects I am truly excited about is the Washington State Suicide Prevention Plan.  I had the opportunity to work with a great group of dedicated people on writing this important document, which was published earlier this year.  You can read WA’s completed plan, as well as plans for many other States.

The requirement to write a suicide prevention plan stemmed from actions by Forefront, Representative Tina Orwall, and a host of others, to pass legislation requiring all licensed mental health and medical professionals to receive training in suicide assessment, treatment and management.  This requirement became the law in 2014, RCW 43.70.442, and required the Department of Health to oversee the writing of the Washington State Suicide Prevention Plan.

In early meetings, our work group decided to base our plan on the 2012 update of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.  This is the first time WA has developed a suicide prevention plan for adults; we’ve had one pertaining to Youth Suicide prevention since 1995.  Governor Inslee, thru Executive Order 16-02, approved our plan in January 2016 and ordered immediate implementation in January 2016.

In the plan, we assert that suicide is a preventable public health problem, and that everyone has a role in suicide prevention.  We established 4 strategic directions, based on the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.  Each strategic direction contains goals and key recommendations.

These goals and recommendations work together with the Washington State Plan for Healthy Communities, the Healthiest Next Generation Initiative and the Department of Health’s Strategic Plan.

Please review WA’s completed plan and let me know if you have any questions.

If you are interested in more of my background, want to review my CV, or are interested in my upcoming trainings, please visit my website at criticalconcepts.org.