I want you to choose your BEST YEAR EVER! Why? Because we find true happiness when we are able to give the best of ourselves and help others. But we can only help and provide for others when we choose to first take care of ourselves. Otherwise, we are burning both ends of the candle and will soon burn ourselves out, become jaded, sick, stressed and miserable. We are not ourselves and we have no time to do the things we truly desire such as hang out with our family and friends, go on amazing vacations or help others in need.
Instead, we are barely surviving, we are only able to give what's left of ourselves and not the best of ourselves. In reality, if we do not take care of ourselves first, no one benefits. Our work, relationships and spiritual life suffers. We have nothing left to give and our joy is stolen. We become stressed and easily irritated, pushing everyone close to us away.
But what happens when we do take care of ourselves? When we respect our bodies by feeding it healthily the majority of the time, we stay hydrated, move often and sleep well. When we take care of our bodies we are able to give the best of ourselves, be more creative, more focused, more productive and more loving to others.
Does this sound like you? You make a New Year resolution to get healthy. You start eating better, moving more and losing weight. You're persistent for a few weeks, then BLAM! (like in the Batman movies) something major throws you off course and you take a few days off. Except, you never get back to your goal. Or, you lose momentum after just a few weeks, your weight loss staggers, you get frustrated, you don't know what to do and feel defeated. How do you avoid this happening to you?
All you need are the steps to create and obtain your New Year resolutions and goals.
1) In a blank journal, take 30 minutes of non-interrupted time to write out your SMART goals. Smart stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-sensitive
Specific: Your goal must be clear
What: do I want to accomplish?
Why: specific reasons, purpose or benefit of accomplishing goal
What is involved?
Where: Identify a location
Which: identify requirements and constraints
Measurable: have measurable goals to track your progress, stay motivated, stay focused and meet deadlines
How much?
How many?
How will I know when I attain it?
Attainable: Your goal should stretch your abilities but still remain possible.
How can I accomplish it?
How realistic is the goal, based on constraints such as time and money?
Relevant: Your goal has to matter to your life goals. You must be able to say "Yes" to these questions:
Is this the right time?
Is this worth my time?
Time-bound: You need a target date so you have a deadline to focus on and something to work towards.
When?
What can I do six months from now?
What can I do three months from now?
What can I do one month from now?
What can I do right now?
Now, do not take your journal and stash it away somewhere. Out of sight is out of mind. Instead, do this:
2) Take ~ 10 minutes at the beginning of your day (yes, this means you may have to get up 10 min earlier and not hit the snooze) to review your goals and decide what action you will take today to move you closer to your goal.
3) Schedule your one thing into your day. Put it on your calendar. Set your mind and keep it set that you will do this, no matter what else comes up.
4) Visualize yourself as if you have already accomplished your goal. How do you feel, what do you do, how are you able to show up?
Did you know that our brains can not tell the difference between something that we visualize and something that actually happens? Either way, our brains react. For instance, think about a scary dream that you had and you wake up and your heart is racing because the dream was so real. Your brain perceived it as real and acted accordingly by increasing your heart rate. When we visualize our goal, our brain subconsciously works on accomplishing that goal.
5) Review: at the end of your day access yourself, On a scale of 1 to 10, how did you do? What challenges did you have? How did you feel? What did you learn?
6) BEFORE YOU GO TO BED, write down the one thing you can do tomorrow to move you closer to your goal.
I strongly recommend working on only 1-2 goals at a time. Any more and you're not likely to be all to do them all well.
It takes on average 66 days to form a new habit, but it can take as long as 250 days. Consistency is the key. In order to be consistent, we must track our progress and hold ourselves accountable to our goals each day.
"Set your mind, schedule it and just do it, no matter how you feel about it at the time."
The truth is our feelings do not always support our goals and we may never "feel like" doing what we know is right. But that's ok, because we can successfully accomplish our mini-goal for the day when we decide beforehand, schedule it to make sure it is actually possible and then just do it despite how we feel.
Need a little more help?
Setting and achieving your goals can be overwhelming and I understand that. If you need a bit more help, here are 3 ways I can help you:
1) I just need accountability, tips and recipes: Join our private Facebook group, Living Up Wellness, where you will get support from others going through exactly what you are going through and from myself, weekly tips, recipes and more.
2) I need a little guidance and nudge to get me started. Sign up for my 3-for-1 deal, where you receive 3 one-on-one 50 minute power sessions with me, a registered dietitian nutritionist. This deal is limited to the first 15 clients who sign up so hurry and book your session today. Click here to book your free initial appointment today. In the comment section put 3-for-1 deal.
3) I need someone to give me a strategy tailored to my needs, to keep me motivated and accountable every step of the way. You may be a perfect fit for my one-on-one health and wellness programs. As I’m sure you’d expect, this time of year almost always leads to a wait-list for clients, so to get started ASAP, book your free initial consultation today!
Now, I'm turning it over to you: what health and wellness goals have you set? What's your best goal setting and achieving tip?