We’re a month into the new year, how are your resolutions coming along?

If you are like most of us, you started of really strong, and gave it everything for a few weeks…

“This is the year,” so the resolution goes, “that I want to lose weight and keep it off.”

Variations may include setting travel goals (take that dream trip), financial goals (start saving), and many more.

If you’re anything like me, by now your enthusiasm and motivation have started to dwindle, and you eventually start to sink back into your old routine.

Well, you don’t have to wait until next year to have another go at it.

I’ve been using a great goal setting technique for several years now, and while I’m not necessarily a planner, and good at sticking to a plan, I find that by following this technique I am more likely to succeed.

Maybe you’ve heard of it?

Setting SMART goals

Yeah, I’ve mentioned it in passing before; the premise is simple. You will find more success with achieving goals the more you break them down into smaller, attainable parts.

Be Specific

State your goal as specifically as possible. Brainstorm up front and make all the decisions early.

To flush out the specifics try asking yourself WHAT, WHY, and HOW.

• WHAT are you going to do?
• WHY is this important to you? What do you want to accomplish?
• HOW are you going to do it?

For example, your goal could be “Go on a holiday”, now break that up. Where do you want to go in particular? South America? Peru? Ecuador? Chile? Why? Before you know it, you’ve created a rough itinerary.

Another example “I want to lose weight”, could be broken up into “I want to lose 10 kilograms”, and further by “I want to lose 10 kilograms by exercising at the gym 3 times a week, eating a well-balanced healthy diet (90% clean-eating compliance, and 10% cheat is a good start), and walking the dog every night”.

The more you can break a goal down, the more it reads like a step-by-step process. This helps in crossing the small pieces off, until you realise that you are SUPER-close to achieving your goal!

Sometimes your goal requires several goals are achieved before you can start on it. I know a few of mine do. Maybe you can’t go on that holiday until you save $5,000, accrue 3 more weeks annual leave, or get your passport. You see how these are stepping-stones to achieving your goal? Being specific helps.

Make it Measurable

The greatest tip I can give you in losing weight (for example) is to track your progress. If you can visually represent your progress (graphs and charts), you will feel motivated, and find it easier to stick to the plan; bringing success closer each day.

Similarly, if that big trip overseas was your goal. You got really specific. You broke it down to all the countries you want to visit, and the steps you need to take to get there. Maybe you needed to save a few thousand dollars first? Track your savings progress.

And rethink the total, it doesn’t cost as much as you think to travel, there are plenty of options to bring the cost down.

Tracking your progress is a great way to reflect and teach others too.

Make sure it’s Attainable

I’ve said this before. It’s important that your goal means something to you, and it is within your reach to achieve it.

Winning lotto for example, that’s a dream, not a goal.

Don’t go to the extremes. You will find keeping your goals attainable gets easier the more specific you are.

Make it Relevant

Relevance kind of relates to being attainable.

No use chasing someone else’s dreams. Live your life.

You will have more success doing what you really want to do, rather than following the crowd, or doing what others think is best.

It’s an introspective exercise, only YOU know what you want.

Following your heart is both motivational and inspiring, and makes the challenges and obstacles more bearable when weighed up against the reward (achieving the goal).

Just be sure you are realistic in your goal setting. The goal should be ambitious, but not impossible. You have to be willing to work for it.

Be Timely

I write a lot about bucket lists, and the biggest annoyance I have with people and their lofty goals is they don’t set a timeline. The term bucket-list itself implies that these are all goals you want to achieve sometime in your life, before you kick-the-bucket (die).

That’s not the best way of looking at it. You set yourself up for failure by not setting a schedule. Before you know it, you’re reflecting back on your life and all the regrets you have.

If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can “start tomorrow”. Sound familiar?

Goals should be linked to a time-frame that creates urgency. There should be tension between your current reality, and your vision of the goal. Without this tension, the goal is unlikely to succeed.

How do you achieve this? Just add a WHEN to your goal setting.

Choose a time, the sooner the better. Why not start on one of your goals now?

Why “loose 10 kgs”? When you can “loose 1kg a week for 10 weeks”.

Why “walk the Great Wall of China”? When you can “visit the Great Wall of China and camp out overnight before Christmas this year”.

a dream is a goal without a deadline

Final Note

Many jump on the “no goals” bandwagon. Arguing that when you have goals, you are too focused, and you may miss out on being open to other opportunities that present themselves.

I agree somewhat. It’s important to have goals, but not so important to focus on them that you lose sight of why you are setting goals in the first place.

You want to live a life of Eager Existence right? You want to look back on your life and smile at the amazing memories, knowing that you made the most of your time on earth.

Sure, it can take hard work and determination. Sure it can take sacrifice. But what about enjoying yourself, keeping an open mind, and welcoming a little serendipity into your life?

It’s good to have goals, but its also good to be open to new experiences. Like everything, there’s a balance. It’s just a matter of finding it.

If you think you’ve heard all of this before — that is, you’ve tried these techniques and failed; then I would love to hear from you, either privately, or in the comments.

And I urge you to stick around (subscribe), and stay informed of upcoming posts — including an alternative method to help you work towards your goals and get out and enjoy the variety of life.

* header image via Pinterest

You're reading Setting SMART Goals by Ian, originally posted on Eager Existence. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Ian on Facebook, and signup for the monthly newsletter.

Who or what inspired you to create your Bucket List?

Unfortunately I’m a bit cliché, I started mine after watching the film. To be honest though, I’ve always had a list of things I wanted to do ever since I dreamed up traveling the world; I think everyone has one – they just haven’t taken the time to write it down, or started to take it seriously (crossing things off).

How many things are on your list?

Well according to my blog about 50 – but I’ve been lazy lately and haven’t added the new ones I’ve been thinking up…cheers for the reminder though, I’ll have to get onto that!

Do you think you’ll be able to cross everything off?

I hope not – or else I’ve got nothing to aim for! I’m always adding things and thinking of what I’d love to do in life…there’s no way I’d ever be able to sort everything out…but maybe that’s the ultimate bucket list item – “complete all of the above”?!

How did you get the ideas for your list?

Bit of a mix really, inspiration from my travels, chatting to other people about cool stuff they’ve done, TV, films…I think everyones bucket list is a mash of inspiration isn’t it?!

What is the most memorable thing you’ve checked off your list?

Oooh that’s a tough one! the first two that pop into my mind are achieving my dream job – which was being a surf instructor in South America. 

That was an epic few month filled with mojitos, amazing people, pumping waves and heaps of good times…can’t wait to go back there one day!

The second is swimming with whale sharks. I honestly thought this would be one of the most difficult to do and I’ve missed whale shark season by a small margin in a lot of places I’ve travelled too.

But last month I was lucky enough to dive with one on Koh Tao… my instructor had been living there for 8 months and it was the first he’d seen too – the whole dive boat was buzzing!

What was the most disappointing thing you’ve completed?

Probably spending Christmas on Bondi Beach in Australia.

The beach itself is a massive let-down (seriously there’s loads of better beaches at home in Devon) and the weather was RUBBISH!

First rainy Christmas in Sydney in 40 years or something ridiculous like that! Massive letdown! I may have to reattempt that one!

What is one thing that you have achieved that you recommend others try?

Doing something out of your comfort zone like skydiving is a good one.

It makes you face your fears and realise you can do things you thought you couldn’t - a great spur to get cracking with the rest of your list.

Is there a destination on your list you would recommend others visit?

Everywhere!

All the places I really want to visit are there for their own reasons, it depends what people want to experience.

Tahiti and Hawaii are there for the surfers. Fiji for the sun worshipers. Asia for the adventurous.

Take your personal pick!

What would you do if you only had 6 months left to live?

Well that’s a bit heavy! Indeed I’d be looking to plough through my list!

Maybe mile high club on the way to flying to Fiji for a bit of island hopping and shark cage diving before surfing in Tahiti en route to a gambling session in Vegas?

…and I’d definitely fit some more in there too!

In regards to whom I’d spend the time with - I’m keeping that to myself for the moment.

What goal do you look forward to completing the most?

Well I’m actually doing one of my most anticipated ones next week! I’m heading out on a surf charter boat for a week or surfing chaos in Indonesia! stoked for it but absolutely bricking it about how powerful the surf here is.

What destination are you most excited about visiting?

Pretty excited for Fiji at the moment - I’ve heard so many good things about it.

Do you think others should create their own bucket list?

Like I said earlier everyone has one whether they realise it or not – but yes everyone should take the time to put everything down in print and get started on their journey.

Do you have any bucket list blogs that you recommend readers check out?

Most good travel bloggers are sharing there’s – have a look through my links page and check out all the lovely backpackers I like to follow.

What are you doing next?

Well after finishing my month here in Bali I’m heading back to Thailand to complete my dive master course and hopefully work as an underwater videographer…exciting stuff!

You're reading Interview with Chris from BackpackerBanter by Ian, originally posted on Eager Existence. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Ian on Facebook, and signup for the monthly newsletter.

Last year I brought you the Inca Rally, and this year I can suggest the Ultimate Train Challenge.

I first heard about the Ultimate Train Challenge in 2011 when Michael, Nora, and Jeannie went on the adventure of a lifetime, taking the world’s longest continuous train journey from Lisbon to Saigon.

I’m happy to tell you the challenge is now open for anyone to enter. So if you are looking for a travel adventure in 2013, this could be it!

The concept is simple: You have to make it from Lisbon to Saigon (or Saigon to Lisbon), in the month of May, all by train.

31 days of travel. You make your schedule, choose your route, and your stops.

You decide how far you will push yourself, and what you will visit along the way. It’s a 25,000 km journey to navigate; with many great destinations along the way like Barcelona, Paris, Venice, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, and Beijing.

What do you get for your entry fee?

In short, you can blog your trip on our website to keep family and friends up with your journey; there is a live-tracking feature on the site, so you can map your trip in real time.

Intrepid Travel is offering 2 amazing 15-day tours to the first ones to cross the finish line each way.

Eurail is offering up at least 4 of their Global Passes that will be raffled off and given away as prizes.

HostelWorld is offering 2 nights stay in each city beforehand.

There will be awesome pre-launch parties in both locations (Saigon and Lisbon) before the race.

And that is just the starting point. You can check out all the prizes on the site.

But wait, that’s not all. In order to keep up with the latest developments on new sponsors, prizes and other news, you can sign up for the free newsletter. As an extra bonus, they will be giving away a new Samsung Galaxy SIII to one lucky subscriber from all the newsletter subscribers in February.

• If you register by February 15th, the entry fee is USD$295.
• If you register from February 16th to April 30th, the entry fee is USD$395.
• And because you are entering from this post, you will get $30 off your entry fee. All you need to do is enter the code EE13UTC on the “Referral” line on the entry page to get the $30 discount.

Any help on the planning?

First things first that everyone needs to understand – this is not a tour. You have to make your own plans, get your own visas, and make sure that you know what you are doing on the ground. The challenge of it all is that it is you verses the rails – all on your own.

That being said, they have put together some resource pages for you to start making your plans.

It is about having an adventure you are going to tell your grand-kids about. Try challenging yourself and doing something that very few other people have done. From one corner of Europe to the far corner of Asia…. all by the best mode of transportation you can use to experience the vastness and wonder of this planet of ours.

All about charity

The UTC 2013 team has also partnered up with Blue Dragon’s Children Foundation in Vietnam to raise some needed funds to help out their cause. They are asking each participant to raise $500, and Intrepid Travel has been generous enough to agree to match each donation dollar for dollar, up to a $10,000 total.

So not only are you doing this whole adventure to challenge yourself, the entire group is going to do a small part to make the world a better place.

Sign up. It has the makings to be the adventure that will change your life. And don’t forget… on that sign up page you input EE13UTC in the “Referral” box to get $30 off your entry fee.

Let us know that you found the UTC13 via our website, and that you are entering the challenge, we would love to stay up-to-date with your progress!

You're reading The Ultimate Train Challenge by Ian, originally posted on Eager Existence. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Ian on Facebook, and signup for the monthly newsletter.

Recently I took a 10 day trip to Bali for a friends destination wedding. Being a short trip, I decided what better time to test out my OneBag challenge? and attempted to survive for 10 days with carry-on luggage only.

On the year I spent travelling around Europe and Northern Africa I carried a 85L backpack. You may remember?

By the halfway point of the trip, after seasons began changing, I began to throw away clothes that were beginning to get tattered, worn, or that I no longer needed.

Not long after, I had an epiphany.

Susan Eileen via Pinterest

I decided that 85L was too much to be carrying, especially after having to walk several miles (several times) with all that weight on my shoulders.

But before I could go all-out, downgrade, and buy a smaller backpack, I had to be sure I could survive okay as a minimalist traveller.

Baby steps.

The goal being a 50L pack that can be taken on-board as carry-on, and surviving out of it for a 6-10 week trip.

The much simpler sub-goal being: survive for 10 days with a small backpack.

The Bali trip would be only 10 days. I knew the climate would be tropical, and I knew I was only allowed 7kgs by the airline for carry-on, with one other item (eg. laptop, purse, or suit).

Being a tropical climate, I knew I could get away with wearing very little.

Being Bali, I knew that I could buy whatever I was missing quite easily by shopping Kuta or Legian markets and haggling a good price.

I encourage you to watch the video. There are a few helpful packing tips to show you how you can pack light, taking only your carry-on allowance. It’s only my second video though, so be kind.

What I packed

You're reading Carry-On Luggage Only: What I Packed for 10 Days in Bali by Ian, originally posted on Eager Existence. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Ian on Facebook, and signup for the monthly newsletter.

My first experience couch surfing in Europe came in Turkey. Ok, technically it wasn’t Europe, it was the other side of the Bosphorus, on the Asian side of the continent; but it was my first country on my Eurotrip, so I’m counting it.

This post is the first part of a series on My First CouchSurfing Experience.

I had just off the back of a 15-day tour exploring Turkey, but the tour missed a few places that I had heard (via social media) were “must see” destinations in Turkey.

I wanted to branch out on my own and explore the Cappadocia region, famous for the fairy chimneys.

In Istanbul I spent 2 days camped in an undercover rooftop bar in Sultanahmet, making small-talk with the barman, and biding my time sending Couch Requests to hosts within 20-50km of Cappadocia.

I must have sent 2 dozen requests, without much luck (for more tips on having success with your requests see Creating a Profile that Gets You Noticed).

Since I didn’t know much at all about Cappadocia, I didn’t want to just get an overnight bus out there and start looking for accommodation. I was still finding my feet as a traveller. I did take a look at hotels, hostels, and B&Bs around Goreme; some even within the rocks themselves. Local tour operators in Istanbul wanted too much money for a few days of exploring the region, so I was hoping on some success with CouchSurfing.

Luckily, one of my requests received a reply. A married couple agreed to host me for a few days, Fatma and Caglar, they also agreed to pick me up from the bus stop in Acıgöl.

Looking back on my original request now, and the thread of questions I bombarded my host with, I laugh at how insecure and anxious I was.

I was catching a bus from Istanbul to Acıgöl, arriving 8am, without any real idea of what I was doing. I was petrified.

What if they didn’t show up?

What if I missed the stop?

I asked the driver to let me know when we got near Acıgöl, I assumed it was a small community bus stop and not a big city bus station. I was right.

The driver was confused as to why I would want to get off in the middle of nowhere. In his broken English he said

You should depart in Goreme. All tourists go to Goreme. Nothing in Acıgöl for you.

Still, I insisted “my friend lives in Acıgöl”.

In Acıgöl, he called up the bus for me to get off. On looking out the window, we were in the middle of nowhere, Turkey.

I only had a moment to decide. Get off in the middle of nowhere, or stay on til the next big stop?

I kept with my promise to meet my host, got off the bus, and collected my bag.

Acıgöl is a small town in  Nevşehir Province of Turkey and has a population of around 5,000; with one main street, a half dozen shops, and a mosque. Mostly a farming community, with lots of land around being worked by farmers and their wives. There is very little traffic, no traffic lights; and even the odd tumble-weed blowing past.

The kind of place where it’s not uncommon to see farmers with their donkeys, women working pick-axes in the field to break up rocks and harvest crops, the odd antique tractor here-or-there.

I crossed my fingers that CouchSurfing was the right choice.

images (cc) Moyan_Brenn, Kaj17, mattkrause1969, whl.travel

Photos are Creative Commons licensed. Photos from the first 3 months of my travels were unfortunately stolen.

You're reading Part 1: My First Couch Surfing Experience (in Europe) by Ian, originally posted on Eager Existence. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Ian on Facebook, and signup for the monthly newsletter.