Life can be tricky, sometimes things happen to us that are not within our control, yet we have to live with it and learn to persevere through any curve ball life decides to throw. When life decides to challenge us, we can either cry complaining about life and resume later, or we can complain, bounce back and do something about it. Even though there are some unknown aspects of the future, we can take control and create the lifestyle that we've always wanted. It doesn't have to an extravagant goal, we can start out small, for an example, you have always wanted to get in the schedule of waking up early and exercising or... you want to be healthier and make your own lunch, either I will show you the entire process that goes through my mind when setting a goal and sticking to it!
DISCLAIMER: I can only tell you the process, but it won't work unless YOU have the dedication to make the change. I can't change your life but guide it, you are in control, whether or not to take action.
(I recommend grabbing a piece of paper and pencil while following along)
Identify the problem:
What do you want to change?
Are you looking for self-improvement? If so, what would you like to change? (ex. bad behavior/habit, health, revising daily life )
I am going to use health and exercise as an example of this exercise, so if you have a different goal, the concept should be similar.
Ex. Okay, so the problem is I want to be more healthy because I noticed that I was breaking out and feeling very inactive lately. Alright! There you have just identified the problem.
"I want to change_______ because _____makes me feel_________."
What is stopping you?
Here we list all the reasons and excuses why we have not achieved our goal yet. Try to create S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely)
ex: I haven't achieved my goal yet because
- I need to wake up early to exercise
- I am too lazy to start exercising
- I like to eat; therefore it's hard for me to diet
- I don't have enough time in the morning to prepare food
Just list all the excuses that you've been making but NEVER ever ever ever say that you CAN'T do something... like ever! Once you say that word, your brain will automatically limit your self, believing you are incapable of doing it. I let you in a little secret, the hardest part about setting a goal is not the activity itself but trying to convince your brain to do it. It's Crazy! If you just tweak your mind to think about it from a different perspective, it isn't as hard as you think ;)
Planning the Process:
This is the part that needs the most creative thinking and compromises with yourself. After creating the list, you need to find some way to make it work out, and you will don't worry.
To improve being active and healthy,
- I prepared my lunch and breakfast the night before to eliminate having to rush in the morning
- Because I love eating, it didn't do a diet but did eat more often in smaller portions. ( it still kept stomach happy)
- I found a YouTube video that plans out the work out routine for an entire month, so I don't have to do the job of planning (check out this post about the FREE exercise challenge that I tried and how it worked for me)
- I gave into waking up an hour earlier to follow the routine in the morning because I know that I would be too tired to do it when I came home from work. On top of that, I wanted to train myself to wake up earlier
- Lastly, I went on after dinner strolls with my family
Mindset:
Here I marked off all the problems that I faced and learned to compromise. That hardest part was waking up early (I woke up at 5:30 am over the summer) So here is tough part because I didn't sit down and knew the answers right away. I wrote down my goals that I wanted to accomplish over that summer, and I found a way to execute it. This part is a little tough, but I know you can do it. Remember how I said the most important part is tricking your mind. Well, this is where you would apply it.
- In all honesty, I had fun preparing my own lunch. Occasionally, I get lazy and just do salad, but it still works and saves me time in the morning
- The exercise video was a difficult start because I felt like a zombie every morning, but after sticking to it for a couple days, I felt proud of waking up early and accomplished that I completed the workout for the day. (Also, exercising drastically reduced my lower back pain, so that was a bonus)
- After dinner, strolls were an excellent time to bond with the family and walking off the food helped with digestion.
The main idea here is to not just focus on the end result but the process to get there. You will not reach the end if you are dreading the journey. So think differently and find the reasons why you enjoy doing this every day. You may not see the progress right away but give it time... you are definitely making some self-improvement! I am rooting for you let me know if this helped and share your experience with me.
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