Reaching big goals, little by little.
Right now I am playing around with this idea of turning over a new leaf.
Creating new healthy habits and tracking them each day. A new leaf is like a clean slate. You can create your plan and begin making positive changes that will help you achieve your goals.
When making your plans these are good things to keep in mind.
1)BLACK & WHITE - either you do it, or you don't do it.
If you choose not to do it that's ok -- it just means something is more important to you than that particular goal.
For example, if I set a goal to not drink alcohol for the next 7 days and then got invited to go out to drinks with friends I'd have a choice to either a)decline the invite and avoid temptation b)go out knowing I'll be ok just drinking non-alcoholic beverages and will not be tempted c)decide I'm giving up achieving my goal and go have a beer.
There are more options about what I may tell myself I am deciding but all of the choices are going to fall onto either side of the line.
Either I'm going to follow through on my 7 day plan, or not. Lucky for me this wasn't my goal when I got invited out to drinks Saturday night. Don't get me wrong, I will be setting a 7 day goal along these lines at some point this fall - but until I feel motivated to want to do that, there's no point in setting myself up for stress and failure. When I make a commitment to myself to do something, then it becomes easy. No amount of trying to push myself to do something that isn't important to me will work for more than a little while. Eventually my desire will beat out my good intention. Changing what I desire is more worthwhile than just setting a bunch of arbitrary rules and charging forth.
2)DAILY - for this goal experiment, I recommend picking something to focus on that you can do every day. When you know it's on your list of things to do (or not do) then you don't have to think about it. When I make a commitment to walk a mile a day and I make sure I will do that minimum amount, I know my goal is achievable. I can either decide I want to set a goal to do this daily for a short period of time as in, "For the next 5 days I will..." or I can pick a longer period of time as in, "For the next 30 days I will..." anything longer than that and it starts to feel overwhelming which cuts down on my likelihood of actually starting it.
3)RIDICULOUSLY EASY - especially when starting out, if you know you can do it if you set your mind to it, you are much more likely to get some "wins" under your belt. If walking a mile feels like a long walk (which it no longer does to me) then how about walking around the block, or to the end of the street and back. Whatever the minimum distance you can commit to write it down and then track it daily.
4)ENJOYABLE - it is much better to pick things you actually like to do. You're more likely to actually do them. This is a good thing and will work in your favor. Making healthy lifestyle changes should not involve being mean to yourself, forcing yourself to do something you hate. Eventually you will resist this torture and come to your senses. There are millions of choices you can make to create a healthy happy life that is just right for you. Only you can identify the things that appeal to you the most.
5)HEALTHY - this is where you are the expert on what feels right to you. There are many shades of gray on what is good for you. If you are drinking a six pack of soda a day, then cutting that in half is a healthy choice for you, while drinking 3 sodas would be an unhealthy choice for a non-soda drinker. This is where your own common sense reigns supreme. Dean Ornish has a book called "The Spectrum" that explores this idea in great detail.
The point of all this is to start intentionally building better habits.
Trying to change everything all at once can work for some people some of the time.
But over the long haul it's the little things you do in your daily life that add up.
You are what you eat and how much you move as well as how you feel about those choices.
Happiness is measured by each of us in our own ways through our own values.
I find I am happiest when I am honoring what is most important to me. Being helpful, paying great attention to my family, taking time for myself to focus on writing, singing, and enjoying, recognizing, and sharing the gifts that surround me.
Now, if I could just get my mind to calm down enough to get some sleep!
Jennifer
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