Friday, December 31, 2010

Sticking to your Goals and New Year’s Resolutions!

It’s that time of the year to review your past years goals and resolutions. Time to create brand new ones to keep you excited and motivated for the new year, or modify last years ideas. Like many people, by January 2nd, you may have already fallen off the bandwagon and willing to abandon your resolution to have six pack abs, quit smoking, be debt free or spend more time with friends and family. However, there are plenty of people who will celebrate all of their accomplishments, and you can be part of that party. Let’s do it together!

Mother Theresa once said, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

While you’re upcoming resolutions might be identical to a failed resolution from years past. You don’t have to beat yourself up, so get back on the bandwagon. What you can do is to keep yourself present to the now, so you can move forward on your resolutions. Avoid dwelling on your failure, and move towards what you want in life. If you inch forward, you are moving in a positive direction. What can you be doing right now to accomplish your goals? While losing 100 lbs safely can take some time and seem very far off in the future, you can lose ½ lbs today. Eventually 100 lbs will have disappeared before you know it!

For me to stick with my resolutions, I need to be in the right set of mind, and know why I am doing this resolution, and write it down. Mostly my “why” involves being healthy for my family and friends, physically and monetarily. So know your why to keep you focused and motivated when you don’t want to be. Keep that reminder always visible. You can tape your “why” on the phone, the mirror, or on one of your t-shirts

In the past you might have said out loud, I am going to lose weight this year. Well, that is an awesome goal. This time write it down. Now let’s be more specific, how much weight and by when. Let’s narrow it down some more, and word it so that you are talking about how you will be. For example, you might write, On August 31 at 12:01pm, I will weigh 175lbs, with 8% body fat, have 6 pack abs, able to do 25 push ups in 30 seconds, be able to run around the block in 10 minutes, and…I think you get the idea. The more specific you are, you begin to paint the picture of your accomplishment.

Now that you know the eventual destination, how are you going to get there? For example, I will run 2 miles every other day, do 3 sets of 10 crunches and 3 sets of 15 push ups everyday. Now that you know what your activities will be, then put those activities into your calendar, so you can keep track of what is next, and be prepared for what is needed to complete the task. If one of your resolutions includes physical activity, please get a check up from your healthcare team hould include your healthcare team, to monitor and track your progress.

Sharing your resolution with your friends and family and have them hold you accountable. Even though it might be embarrassing, you will have plenty of supporters and even some will be inspired by your actions that they too want to have the same “drink” that you are having. It’s contagious when you see success.
Now that you have started and in the thick of things, take time to review and evaluate how you are doing, and make any changes to keep you on course.

If you are accomplishing your goals a little too easy, I would suggest making your goals grander. For example, I want to raise $1000 to feed 10 families for the winter, and that is an awesome accomplishment. How about raising the bar and raising $10,000 to feed 100 families or even $1,000,000 to feed 100,000 families.

I get so excited when people reach out beyond their initial boundaries and transform into something extraordinary.

So let’s recap
1. Write down why you are doing it
2. Write down your goals and resolutions with a specific deadline
3. Have a plan and stick with it
4. Share your goals and resolutions with your family and friends
5. Review and evaluate how you are doing with your goals, and make course corrections if needed

Make each second, day, month and year count, and enjoy the journey!

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