Monthly Archives: December 2015

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How to Reach Your Resolutions

Sticking to your resolutions and reaching them can be difficult. There are reasons that you set the resolution. You resolved to change. How do you attain the change?

35593658_sTo live life intentionally you have to form great habits. It takes discipline and courage to make changes and to instill great habits.

The first question to ask yourself: is the resolution you set something you really want to attain? How badly do you desire to achieve the results? To make constructive change you have to want to change. If you determine the resolution is not something you really want drop it and come up with things you are determined to change.

A habit, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a usual way of behaving: something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way. It takes anywhere from 18 days to 254 days to form a habit according to a study by Phillippa Lally published in the European Journal of Psychology, October 2010.

To form great habits you have to break down activities in to steps. Then you have determine what activities you need to do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Getting fit and losing weight seem to be popular resolutions. The resolution may be to join a fitness center. The goal might be to lose 15 pounds.  The process would be to set up the steps and determine by what date or timeline you are going to get the activity completed.

4 Stages to Attaining  a Resolution

  1. Plan Your Steps With Target Dates
  2. Set Short-Term and Long Term Goals With Target Dates
  3. Measure Your Progress
  4. Reward Yourself

For example:

Step 1: Pick out 3 fitness centers to visit. Complete by 2/1, Visit Center 1 by 2/5, Center 2 by 2/7, Center 3 by 2/9

Step 3: Join fitness center of choice by 2/11

Step 4: Meet with a personal trainer to set up a workout program centered on your weight loss goals by 2/12

Step 5: Meet with nutritionist to set up a meal plan to meet your weight loss goal by 2/15

Step 6: Set targets to attain

Step 7: Put your workout days and workout times in your calendar

Step 8: Set short term goals with your trainer and nutritionist

Step 9: Take your measurements on a scheduled basis

Step 10: Celebrate when you reach a target

One of the things that is extremely valuable in keeping your resolution and hitting your goals is to create accountability. In this example if you hired a personal trainer and set weekly meetings with your nutritionist to track your progress you have created accountability.  On top of that you would be paying for each of these services so if you do not show up for the workout you still have to pay.

Some of your habits might include showing up for your workout on the scheduled date and time for 60 days. Meet weekly with your nutritionist for 60 days. Take weight and body measurements weekly. Do a fitness test on a monthly basis. Shop for your food on a weekly basis.

Just a side note, if your goal is to lose weight I am personally more in favor of body measurements and body fat measurement rather than the scale. The key is not how much you weigh, but how you look. If you like the way you look, the weight does not matter. If you do prefer to use a scale, Wednesday mornings tend to be a good day to weigh yourself.

If this is one of your resolutions the first month is going to be the hardest. If you have not worked out for a while you are going to be very sore for a few weeks. That is why the fitness centers are not as crowded in February as they were in January. Many people have great intentions, but they don’t succeed because they don’t stick it out long enough to create the habit.

Set short term goals on the way to your long term goal and reward yourself. For example, you set a long-term goal to lose 3 inches on your waistline. You have an interim goal to lose 1 inch on your waist by 2/28. You hit the goal by the  target date. Celebrate and reward yourself with your favorite meal or dessert.

The first 90 days are the hardest of starting anything new.  Stay the course for at least 90 days. You will be on your way to creating great habits and reaching your resolutions.

Be Great!

 

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How to Set and Attain Your Goals

A year from now you will either look back and see what you accomplished or you are going to look back and wish you had done what I am going show you. Goal setting can be done at any time during the year, but most people tend to set them on a calendar year.

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Every person that has ever accomplished anything significant has used some form of goal setting.  I am going to show you a system I have used and shared for years. It is very simple system, and the best part is it’s free.

Setting Goals

Step 1: Take the 6 F’s, Faith, Family, Fitness, Finances, Friends and Fun and list them on a sheet of paper or in a document on your computer or pad.

Step 2: In each of the categories list all the things you want to accomplish in each category over the next 12 months.

Step 3: Put a date that you want to accomplish the goal next to each.

Step 4: Determine what steps you need to take to accomplish the goal. List out the daily, weekly, monthly things you need to do to accomplish the goal and write them below the goal.

Step 5: Put your goals in the order of importance to you on your commitment card

Step 6: Visualize your goals often as if they have already been accomplished. If you study professional athletes, you will soon learn how powerful visualization is. The best of the best see themselves performing at optimal levels and winning their competitions before the event occurs.

Step 7: Review your goals everyday. Keep them in front of you.

You should do a monthly review of your goals to check your progress. Over the years when I have done this, I have found there are goals I had hit early, ones I was not close to and others that did not motivate me anymore. If this happens to you, here are some options. You can adjust the goal by increasing or decreasing it, or you can decide to eliminate it altogether.

Another important thing to do is to celebrate when you achieve a goal. It does not have to be something elaborate, it can be as simple as going out to eat or enjoying a good bottle of wine.

I use a Commitment Card to record my goals. The card is simply a 3 x 5 index card. Making multiple copies of your Commitment Card will allow you to access it more easily.

Commitment Cards also make great stocking stuffers at Christmas. I have given them to my kids for years. It is fun to watch your children set goals and watch them attain them.

If you like to use technology, there are many systems that can be used. You can use Goals on Track which uses the SMART method to set goals, Nozbe which is a task based system or you can store your Commitment Card in Evernote. Evernote is one of my favorite tools because it syncs amongst all my devices, and I always have my information available.

Keep your Commitment Cards. It is fun to look back over years past and see all that you have accomplished and all the things you still want to accomplish.

“Happy is the man who sets a goal and is willing to pay the price to reach it.”            – Unknown

Be Great!

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How To Create Great Memories

When you get together with family or friends during holidays you will often hear the phrase “remember when we…..”. It is fun to rehash memories of special things you have done together like trips you’ve taken or vacations you have been on.

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Creating memories with my family is in my plan for life. My wife and I feel it is important that you create memories with your family. We had times where we gave very small gifts at Christmas and went on a trip instead. We tend to forget about the things we get, but we do remember the trips we take as a family.

The best way to create memories is to plan them. The best memories tend to be from being on vacation or doing something special.

Creating Your Memories

  1. Plan a vacation with your family. If you don’t plan it, most likely it will not happen.
  2. Go to a special game or sporting event. Go to a game of one of your kids’ favorite teams.
  3. Go out to dinner at a really nice restaurant as a family. Birthdays and anniversaries are great times for a special celebration.
  4. Go on a mission trip. Look for a mission adventure through your church.
  5. Study the location you are going to before you arrive. Do online research or look for a book on your destination.
  6. Take lots of pictures. With iPhones and Android phones you have a camera with you at all times. It is fun to look back at pictures of the memory. The picture will take you back in time.
  7. Use a travel journal to record what you did. Record in either a handwritten journal or an online journal memories of your trip.

What are the memories that you have with your family? What is your favorite trip or vacation you have been on? Take time tonight at dinner during the holidays to talk about your favorite memories.

Be Great!

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How to Create a Personal Development Plan

Every year it is a good idea to take a look at what you want to learn, skills you want to develop and areas that you want to improve in the coming year.  Now is a great time to start your personal development plan for next year.

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I recommend looking at the 6 F’s, Faith, Family, Fitness, Finances, Friends and Fun to determine some areas you want to develop in the coming year. Schedule a half day to set up your Personal Growth Plan for next year.

Questions to Consider

  1. What are the skills you want to develop next year?
  2. What do you want to learn next year?
  3. What areas of your work do you want to improve next year?
  4. What areas in your personal life do you want to improve next year?
  5. How do you want to improve your fitness and health?
  6. What do you want to improve or learn in your faith life?
  7. What do you want to learn financially?
  8. What do you want to improve on relationships with your spouse, friends, coworkers or significant other?
  9. Is there a hobby or interest you want to learn for fun?

For each of these questions the next step is to do some research.

  • What books do I need to read?
  • What workshops or seminars do I need to attend?
  • What Podcasts do I need to subscribe or listen to?
  • What websites are available to help?
  • What courses do I need to take?
  • What webinars do I need to attend?

This may involve doing some research online to discover tools, books, resources, websites and podcasts that can help you achieve your personal development plan.

Next Steps

  • Break this all down in to manageable timelines to achieve. An example would be a reading plan. You have a book that is 300 pages. If you read 10 pages per day for 30 days you will complete the book. This is a way to break down the task into managable bites.
  • Schedule the activities in your calendar
  • Set goals around your development plan with dates of completion.

I hope this helps you to grow and achieve new skills, learn new things and grow in your life over the next 12 months.

Be Great!