If you always do what you always did....

Welcome to 2020!

I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season and that you found a way to still take care of you with all of the extra stressors.

So, now what?

There has been a lot of extra hype around this new year – that we are now in 2020, that this is a new decade, and that we still don’t have the flying cars that “The Jetsons” said we would. 😊

Did you know that the fitness centers are jammed packed right now? Everyone (okay, maybe not everyone, but many) made the New Years Resolution to become healthy and get in shape. Yet, in 3 weeks you will be able to walk in and find an open machine instead of having to wait for one like right now. Why is that?

We get excited about the newness of a new year. We have hope that things will change. We want to start the year off strong and do “all the right things” so we can be successful. So, what happens? Have you heard this saying:

If you always do

What you always did

You’ll always get

What you always got

We cannot tackle our new years resolutions (or “goals”, if you prefer) by operating as we always have. We need to change our mindset, our skill set, and our expectations. Yet, we also need action. It’s one thing to declare our intention, but to make them a reality, we also need to put our goals into action. How do you do that?

1. Identify and recognize your patterns – do you avoid or procrastinate? How much time do you spend on social media (it can be a real time suck)? Do you suddenly decide you need to clean the entire house or watch the latest binge-worthy show on Netflix before you can work on your goals? (And then are too tired or no longer have time to do so…)

2. Don’t bite off more than you can chew – it’s a bit of a cliché statement, but is so true. It is great to have worldly dreams and BIG goals. However, you need to chunk your goals into tinier ones that are more obtainable (and not so threateningly huge that they seem too far out of reach). To do so, take your BIG goal and break it down into quarters, then into months and from there into weeks and then daily. This way you will know what to work on each month to help you reach that BIG goal.

3. Work on your goal(s) daily. When we dream and plan big, it also means we need to plan. We cannot wait until December to finalize our big goal. Work at least a little bit each day towards your goal. It may not seem like you are doing much, but if you do so with intention, each day will help you get closer to the end result.

Take the time now to parse out your big goal into smaller, more achievable versions. Be realistic. Outline what you need to do each quarter, each month, each week and each day so you can achieve your goal by year’s end. By doing so, you will still be hitting the gym to get healthy long after the third week of January when many others will have dropped out. (This planning applies to all goals, not just the “getting fit” goal)

If you believe it would be helpful to have a coach to work with you towards accomplishing your goals and helping hold you accountable, click here - www.calendly.com/denisestyer - to schedule a complimentary discovery call where we can discuss how we could work well together. I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy New Year!

Denise