January 1 is always the standard for starting anew and implementing those resolutions that sat on a shelf all year long. We tend to get really excited about starting and then fizzle a few days, weeks or maybe a couple of months later. Why is that? Well we all can have motivation to start something but when the motivation wears out then you are left with what? Nothing. No you don’t feel like getting up at 5 am anymore to jog 2 miles. No you don’t feel like spending all that time in the kitchen preparing healthy meals. Maybe you don’t feel like continuing to write that best seller book that you thought was a good idea at the time. Or maybe your goal of being patient has expired because it’s too much effort.
So what is missing you might ask from being successful at resolutions? A LOT!
Knowing the WHY - Implementing any change in our life requires us to actually sit down and reflect WHY we want to do something and actually WRITE it down. If you cannot articulate your WHY (your true WHY) for making the change it will be impossible to keep going when things get hard. And yes they will get hard.
Setting an INTENTION - We have to set an INTENTION of what we actually want to accomplish. We need to be specific. Saying you want to be “happier” is pretty vague. But if you said you wanted to achieve happiness through spirituality or better relationships or more money – that would be specific.
PLANNING - Planning is critical if you want to reach your goal successfully. Don’t just let it fall to chance or let it be influenced by your daily motivation factor.
Let’s say you’ve always wanted to add jogging to your daily exercise routine. A plan may look like this: placing your sneakers near your bed every night, setting an alarm for 5 am, jogging 2 minutes, walking, jogging 2 minutes and so on for a specified time, then increasing the jogging time for a specified amount of time until you reach your goal of jogging X miles at a stretch.
ACTION - This final one is a no-brainer. The best laid plans, whys and intentions will not get you to where you want to be. Sometimes we get so caught up in our need for perfection that we freeze and don’t move forward. Take jogging for instance, we need to wait so we can buy the perfect sneakers (add 30 day delay), we need it to be the perfect temperature outside (add an additional delay of 2-3 months), we are waiting for our friend to agree to do it with us (good luck waiting)... can you see how we never get off the ground sometimes with our plans?
I am definitely not perfect in this department, no one is. I’ve had a lot of starts and failures over my 50+ years but when I follow this model it does work!
Just remember, once in motion it usually stays in motion. But we have to GET in motion first.
