How are you doing today with your Resolutions?
You started out with great energy and enthusiasm. “This is the year I’m keeping my New Years Resolutions! Quitting Smoking; Losing Weight; Spending more time with Family; Finding time to read; using Social Media the right way, Blogging more, Facebooking less…” Ahh – but today is the beginning of the 2nd week of the New Year, and here you are, smoking, eating chocolate, buried on @Imgur and @Facebook and @Instagram while those goals go un-resolutely undone.
Here are three ideas.
Create a Soundtrack for your Success. The first Secret? MUSIC baby! We are all motivated by music. Find your favorites and make a soundtrack to play when you need to get going. I have Dwight Yoakam playing right now. That revs up my cowgirl heart big time! Find yours! I’m energized and have checked off three things on my Resolutions list today, including writing this, all while dancing around the office.
One technique I’ll use for simple tasks is to put on a favorite high-energy song and tell myself I need to finish the task before the song ends. Then I’m racing against the song, and mindless or repetitive tasks get done quicker. If it’s a longer project, put on an album and finish before the album does. It’s more fun than slogging through for hours and complaining the whole time.
Don’t Overwhelm Yourself by gathering all your work into one ugly pile!
Break it up! Piles of work leering at you from every corner will dropkick you into Overwhelm in no time at all. Don’t do that to yourself. We are capable of doing things well if we break down our projects into steps and then focus only on that one step at a time. That’s how you can use that one song-one task technique above.
If you want to lose weight, don’t try to lose 30 pounds in a month. You’ll get sick and you just won’t do it. INCREMENTS! Increase exercise by 10% each day. Reduce calorie intact by 10% each day. Drink more water. Slowly shift habits: eat earlier, take a walk each night, make it work for you. Cut out one thing a week or month: white flour and white sugar are good places to start if you’re dieting. Do what works for you and congratulate yourself on your small successes. It works! Increments help you not feel deprived.
Time Yourself. The song trick works. So does a clock or timer. Competing against yourself is energizing. Buy a small noisy timer or set a timer on your phone that shows countdown. You’ll be amazed how much you can do in 20 minute chunks. Say this: “For the next 20 minutes I’ll clean off my desk.” “For the next 10 minutes I’ll organize bills.” “For the next two songs I’m filing receipts for the year.” Do it this way and stop when the timer goes off or the song ends. Now you know where you have to pick it up again tomorrow or later today. Bonus: you are uncluttering your space and clearing your mind.
Be sure and Celebrate your successes. Every small success leads to a bigger Resolution being met!
Take care of yourself, we need you!
