Goals 2012
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BE YOUR BEST WITHOUT THE STRESS: IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MEDAL
Katrina Radke, MFT
“This wonderful book will motivate and inspire you
to live a wonderful life – and leave all the stress behind!”
--Brian Tracy, Author, Million Dollar Habits
As children we’re taught that with hard work (and maybe a little luck) we can do, or become, anything. Kids spend years dreaming about becoming entertainers, doctors, famous athletes, and even the President of the United States. But sometime between early childhood and adolescence our big and unconditional dreams become more moderate often being tempered by the doubts and opinions of others. As we enter adulthood we sometimes allow the opinions of others to supersede our own, thus limiting our true potential.
Katrina Radke, MFT, a member of the 1988 United States Olympic swim team and a Minneapolis, Minn. based health and peak potential expert, says that we can recapture our early sense of optimism by changing how we view the challenges and opportunities that face us. Radke encourages her patients and those who want to achieve success to follow framework called SMART.
SMART is a process that helps people define and set objectives for career and personal development. By following the SMART framework Radke helps people:
- Establish goalsthat are Specific, while at the same time are measureable, achievable, realistic (yet challenging) and with a specific deadline. She recommends defining specifically what you want to accomplish and visualize what success will look like.
- Make goals Measurable. During her athletic career Radke kept a detailed notebook of her daily workouts to track her progress. She believes that keeping track of specific, measurable goals helps to give a sense of accomplishment each step of the way.
- Create goals that are Achievable. “Be honest with yourself,” continued Radke. “Often people set too many goals at once or don’t plan enough small steps to get them from where they are currently to where they want to go. Don’t get so stressed and overwhelmed that you give up. Instead, keep your steps simple, and follow through. Your goal is to be empowered. Be realistic. Set a marker that is within your power.”
- Make goals Relevant. Your goal must fit within, alongside, or on top of the other responsibilities and priorities of your life. You might have some bad habits that are holding you back from achieving your goals. You may need to rethink whether they are working for you and relearn better habits to achieve your goals.
- Make your goals Timed. Ask yourself, “What’s a reasonable date to achieve my goal?” Again, be realistic. Don’t set the bar set the bar so low that your achievement will be uninspiring, or too high that you get overwhelmed. To feel like you have really accomplished something, the marker needs to be a little further out than it has been before. Decide how much time you will commit each day. You’re going for progress, for personal bests, with each step.
“As we get older, we try to protect our frail egos and don’t think we are capable of achieving our childhood dreams,” Radke writes. “We allow ourselves to get stuck, to get bogged down in what we feel we ‘should’ be doing. Yet, research shows that imagination enhances one’s mood and performance—and, ultimately, life. It is vital to maintain our wonder and curiosity about this magnificent, mysterious world.”
In Be Your Best Without Stress Radke draws on decades of experience as a world class swimmer, a marriage and family therapist, and a college psychology professor to teach readers a number of techniques to generate ideas and let them surface (no matter how silly or crazy they may seem); how to set various kinds of goals and achieve them; how to dream big about things that excite and motivate you; and, most importantly, break your big goals into smaller tasks base on your desired outcome so you’ll be encouraged to stay on your path to success.
By listening to your inner voice, personal needs and wishes, Radke believes that you will get the best out of yourself and lead a more balanced a peaceful life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katrina is a Marriage and Family Therapist, and Health and Peak Potential Expert, specializing in empowering people to be at their best, whether in sports, career, relationships, or in life. Her swimming accomplishments include: Olympic Swimmer, four gold medals in major international competition, seven years on USA National Team, and co-captain of the US Swimming Team. She held American, US Open, Italian Open, and Australian Open Records. Katrina has delivered keynote speeches to various corporations, clubs, and nonprofits, including AT&T, 24 Hour Fitness, and PeopleSoft. Katrina holds a B.A from UC Berkeley, and received her Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from Southern Connecticut State University, and completed part of her internship through Yale University School of Medicine. She teaches college psychology courses online, and runs a peak potential business with her husband, Ross Gerry.
Title: BE YOUR BEST WITHOUT THE STRESS: IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MEDAL
Author: Katrina Radke, MFT
Pub. Date: June 2012
Pages: 262
Price: $24.95 softcover
ISBN: 978-1-9357-2361-5
To book Katrina Radke: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more information, including book covers and author photos: http://www.KatrinaRadke.com
