Getting up earlier is something you just do, it's not a goal. Losing 30 pounds is more of a goal because it's an expected outcome, but eating more salad and drinking less Coke is something you just do.
I disagree. That's like telling a depressed person to be less depressed. It's not wrong or anything, but it's much more of a process than you're implying.
Anything that is challenging for you can become a goal. I find it very very hard to wake up early, especially when I don't need to, and some mornings I fail.
Waking up early is in fact a goal I have been working on over the past six months or so, and I do this by working at it incrementally. Today I get up at 10, next week at 9:30, etc...
It's a difference of mindset. Maybe you're just over thinking it. If you think it's a "goal", you aspire to it and hope to achieve it. If its just something you do, you just do it. If you want to complicate the idea, then think of it as developing an internal locus of control. But it's simpler than that.
Anything that is challenging for you can become a goal. I find it very very hard to wake up early, especially when I don't need to, and some mornings I fail. Waking up early is in fact a goal I have been working on over the past six months or so, and I do this by working at it incrementally. Today I get up at 10, next week at 9:30, etc...