One Choice at a Time

The beginning to a new year brings the opportunity to reset, put new goals in place and strive to improve areas of life which may seem lacking or unsatisfactory. That is why the beginning of a new year is notorious for “new years” resolutions. I love the start of a new year. I have my rituals of meditation, thanksgiving, progress evaluation and goal setting at the beginning of every new year. It’s a great opportunity to review where you stand and put action plans in place to get to where you want to be. So, why do so many people give up on new years resolutions within a matter of weeks or a couple months? In my coaching practice, I have seen that the majority of lost resolutions is due to personal unmet expectations. Whenever we decide to make a change, generally we envision the best outcome possible which spurs us into action. Excited, enthusiastic and ready to get to it. Jumping all in, hitting the gym or going through the finances ready to overcome and conquer. Often times, however, that enthusiasm starts to run thin by the end of January. It not only starts to run thin but can also quickly turn to frustration. After a month of hard work and dedication, sometimes the results that we “expected” are just not there.  For many people, that frustrated feeling then turns to lost motivation. We live in an instant gratification world. As humans, we want what we want and we want it now. That is just our nature. Therefore, after spending a solid month working toward what we want, we should have it, right? Not so much! When you are trying to make a change, you must first realize that whatever it is that you are wanting to change will not happen in the blink of an eye. Take physical health for instance, you did not wake up one day in the condition that you are in. In other words, it did not happen overnight. Since that is the case, why do we think that we can reverse our situation overnight? Progress takes time. The second thing to understand is that to achieve any goal, it is done literally one choice at a time. We only have today, therefore, progress can only be made one day at a time. Each choice you make either gets you closer to your goal or further away. For instance, with the weight loss scenarios, what to have for breakfast is a choice. If you are wanting to lose weigh and get fit and active, make a conscious choice which breakfast foods will get you closer to your goal. Once at work, do you park as close to the door as you can or do you park a few rows away to get some steps in. Once inside, do you take the stairs or take the elevator? After work you’re exhausted and don’t go to the gym. Do you at least get out and take a couple laps around the block? Third, you must realize that everyone has off days from time to time. If you experience a day like that, accept it for what it is and don’t beat yourself up over it. Don’t mentally put yourself down or negatively self-talk yourself. Doing this will increase unhappy hormones in your body which will cause you to feel even less motivated the next day. Instead, be kind to yourself, perhaps even treat yourself to something special like a long bubble bath or go to bed early. Off days happen because of stress, pressure, lack of sleep etc. If your emotions or your mood is off take that as a sign to slow down. Go to bed, give thanks for the things that did go right and go to sleep excited to wake up tomorrow to a fresh start. We don’t need a “new year” to start over or make a change. Above all remember, every single day that you wake up you have the opportunity to take one more step toward the things you want or one step the other direction.  The choice is yours!