New Year resolutions often perplex me. The empty promises and shaky hopes that hang onto the one night of the year that we (society) believe we can make the necessary changes to live a happy content life… WHY?
Christmas generally sees a blowout and loss of any glimpse of self-control, only to pin all hopes to the turning of a fictional calendar system. By mid-January (if we get that far) we wonder why we didn’t hold strong to our grandiose idea of restriction and cycle back into the fad diets, poor lifestyle choices and self-perpetuating negative self-belief.
The truth is we have the CHOICE to make a fresh start any day, at any moment.
There is no magic time but NOW.
RIGHT THIS MINUTE
Don’t wait for tomorrow what can be started today!
When we set intentions for a new lifestyle choice, often we haven’t mapped out the steps to get there. It all gets too hard or we don’t know which way to move forward, so we stop, stagnate and create anxiety from inaction or lack of results.
Gaining clarity of what you want and how you will achieve these goals are best approached with a SMART mindset. It’s handy to identify areas of concern, map out your pathway, set smart goals and create space to reflect, refine and reattack. These are important stages (don’t skip any) as they will help develop action steps to overcome challenges, keep you motivated with achievable goals to strengthen your resolve.
Clear vision and intention setting rely on knowing exactly what you want, where you want to be or the ideal lifestyle for your future.
S Specific- What exactly do you want to achieve?
M Measurable – How will you determine when you have achieved your goal?
A Attainable- Ensure that your goal is achievable. You can always set more!
R Relevant- How important are these goals to where you envisage your ideal self?
T Timely- Setting a time frame in which you will achieve this goal.
Making CHANGES to our already busy lifestyles can be a lot harder than expected. A simple decisional balance sheet outlining the PROS and CONS of change will help.
When we think about making changes, most of us don’t really consider all sides in a complete way. Instead, we often do what we think we “should” do, avoid doing things we don’t feel like doing, or just feel confused or overwhelmed and create excuses for WHY we gave up.
CONSIDER both the pros and cons of both changing and not making a change is one way to help us make sure we have fully considered a possible change. If we focus on the POSITIVE aspects and lifestyle choices we want to bring to our lives rather than what we are restricting, we can positive wire our brain for a change.
Describe the change you are considering.
Where are you at the moment with the idea of change?
Are you motivated or resistant?
Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and one side list the PROS to change, the other side list the CONS.
I’ve identified the areas of my life where changes need to be made. In a positively framed MINDSET, I am focusing on the lifestyle changes that I will bring more of into my life. In order to create this, there were aspects of my life that needed to be left behind in order to move into MY ideal.
To have 20/20 vision, is to have complete clarity. In order to achieve this, we need to delve inside our mind's eye and explore what’s important to us and WHY.
I’m so excited about where 2020 will take me. I’m excited and scared for all the steps I need to take in order for it to happy but I’m willing to keep moving forward with the COURAGE to live the life I want. FEAR will not hold me back. I've got the tools to help YOU. Let's explore Nature and mind with a Wonder Walk.
Do you know where you are heading? Get clear with a Hike around Arthurs Seat and mini Vision workshop Jan 19th – snacks included.
2020 – YOUR year to get CLEAR
Amanda x