Defrazzle Your New Year's Resolutions!
If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed.
~Ancient Chinese Proverb
I love January. I love new beginnings. I love setting new goals, seeking new levels of success, and that whole feeling of starting fresh. I also hate January because by January 3rd I've blown most of my resolutions and have fallen into a pit of despair.
I am, however, a student of success, and in spite of my frustrations, I try to never give up permanently! This year I have discovered something that will make a difference to the success or failure of my resolutions. Read on.
Most of the time we fail because we are overwhelmed. Into a schedule that is already packed, we try to now add 2 hours a day of fitness, 3 books a week to read, and a new job to pay the old bills. Are we nuts?
Ok, let's try something VASTLY different this year. Try the following:
- Day one: drink one glass of water during the day
- Day two: drink one glass of water during the day and put on your gym clothes at the time you want to work out
- Day three: drink two glasses of water during the day and put on your gym clothes at the time you want to work out
- Day four: drink two glasses of water during the day, put on your gym clothes at the time you want to work out, and either walk to the tread mill, the front door, or get in the car as if you were going to drive to the gym.
1. Take two to three days off to really think about your life. What's working? What isn't? What is getting in the way of your success? Ask the “big questions” - don't be afraid of them! Journal this out. Seek wisdom from friends, family and your faith to get to the root of things. Fixing things without understanding what's broken and why is only going to cause serious frustration. You also need to know what you want and why.
2. Deal with everything that's overwhelming you. Do you need help with time management? Are you buried in clutter? Is your schedule full to bursting? Are you in bad health? Do you need counseling? Don't deal with all your issues at once - you'll burn out. Start your new year by dealing just with one thing that is overwhelming you the most. Again, find out why, and get outside help for dealing with the core issue first.
3. Take baby, baby steps. Don't start by deciding to clean out, re-organize, and renovate your basement by January 31 if it looks like a jumble sale. Don't start your health plan by instigating a complete eating plan and 2 hours of exercise daily if you're a couch potato. Learn the principle of Kaizen and divide your goal into the tiniest of steps. Here's how you can apply the principle of Kaizen to your desire to be more healthy.
It looks ridiculously slow and silly, but you'll find that this will create a habit that will be almost impossible to break. You will probably also find yourself giggling over the stupid feeling you get just getting your gym clothes on without doing anything in them! This helps create a positive reaction to what you're doing, however, and will reinforce success.
Try it out and see!
Darlene Hull
Darlene Hull is a happily married, Homeschooling mom who is also a speaker, workshop facilitator, writer, and the creator of the Mom-Defrazzler THE resource for getting moms from chaos to calm.
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