It is that time of year again when we decide we need to eat better, exercise more, sleep longer, spend more time with loved ones; to be healthier, be a better person, and be happier.
On January 1st, many of us made one or more resolutions to improve our health, wealth and happiness. Now it is the middle of January and I would venture that at least 50% of these have been abandoned, forgotten or put off for another time. I gave up on making New Year’s Resolutions several years ago.
I no longer think about making resolutions as they have never worked for me. They are vague and not attached to a specific plan. They are pretty much useless for the majority of us. When you are serious about making changes, consider writing goals with a strategy mapped out for how you intend to reach each goal.
If you want to make serious change in your life, you don’t need a resolution. You don’t need will power. You need to make it stupid easy on yourself. You need to make the change you want to see in your life; the easier, simpler choice. You need a strategy!
I have found that scheduling an activity for even 5 minutes that is directly linked to a goal helps me to reach that goal. For example, one of my goals is to post on this blog at least 5x per month. My strategy is to write for at least 5 minutes every day. Another goal is to exercise daily to improve flexibility and strength. My strategy is to stretch or lift weights for at least 5 minutes every day.
These activities are literally scheduled on my google calendar and when that task is done, I change the color so I know I did it. At any time, I can go back and check on my progress. So far, these 5 minute chunks of time are working wonderfully for me. I have been doing this for a few months and am in a really nice routine. These activities are becoming my new habits and that will lead to success.
My “Tracking Calendar” as I call it is starting to fill up with small chunks of time like this; set aside for a specific purpose. In 5 minute increments, it tracks writing, planks, arm weights/stretching, leg weights/hand exercises, and an evening quiet time. A new month is all written out in yellow and every day as I complete one of the tasks, I change the color to brown. It is so simple and so silly but it works. Sometimes, I literally do my 5 minutes just to change the color because I don’t want to ruin my streak!
I am 100% positive that at this point, if I deleted my “Tracking Calendar” that I would fall off the wagon pretty darn quick. The calendar is not only my tracking system, it is also how I hold myself accountable. Now I need to stop writing to go do my planks. Honestly, I don’t enjoy planks but…
We need a way to be accountable when addressing goals. We can be accountable to others or to ourselves but we need to ensure we do what we say we will do. For me, changing the color on my tracking calendar is how I hold myself accountable. At the end of the day, I only want to see my activities listed in the color brown. That tells me, I did what I said I would do. This works for me; it may or may not work for you. I have also used the Productive App as a means to track my progress but at the end of the day, my frugality won out and I decided to create my own tracking system.
Another goal is to read 40 books this year. My strategy is to read at least 5 minutes daily. I have firmly established the habit of reading and no longer track it daily. However, I think when I go away on vacation I should get it back on my calendar as being away from home tends to disrupt my habits! Honestly I think I better spend 5 minute figuring out how I will make sure I keep my routine when away or things will fall apart.
One of the reasons I like completing the Whole30 is my honey and I have learned how to set up our environment for success. We literally remove all of the food from our cabinets, that contain ingredients that we plan on removing from our diet for 30 days. We now have a box in the basement that contains the chocolate chips, pasta, rice, crackers and any thing that contains sugar. The wine is put away and the remaining bottles of hard cider are tucked away for another time.
I have found a bunch of websites that publish recipes that are compliant with the Whole30 and use them for inspiration. Some of my current favorites are Nom Nom Paleo and Paleo Running Mamma. They make eating healthy a breeze!
Completing the Whole30 is not a resolution. It is not a diet. It is not a wish, a desire or a vague promise to myself. It is one of my 2020 goals that comes with a set of formal rules and informal guidelines built in to its design. It is a really cool strategy we use to improve our health. For this goal, my honey and I are accountable to each other through daily conversations about the choices we made to stick to the Whole30 plan!
If you don’t have a strategy mapped out to reach your goal, why not give the tracking calendar or some type of productivity app a shot? It has been a game changer for me!
Lake Girl
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay