Decide now to make this the best year of your life! Do not wait around before you get started. Start right away. I’ll do it next week, next month or next year is just an excuse.
Do you start each year with lots of good intentions. Do you find that your new years resolutions do not last long? A quarter of them usually last a week. Half of them last longer than a month. Under 8 % manifest and how long do they last. Making long term changes is a serious, tough and rewarding job, so get started right now !
What do you really want in your life?
Choose healthy inspiring goals.What do you want and need for 2015? Include your lifelong dreams, duties and necessities. Stimulate your imagination so that you can be clear about what you want. If you have been trying to stop smoking or lose weight for years, then it is time to come up with something novel to break through the established roadblocks. For example train for a marathon with a running club. Take ballroom dancing lessons and enter a dance competition. Creativity and inspiration are necessary.
Set goals. Make plans
Good intentions are not enough. You need a concrete plan in place showing how you are going to achieve your goals. Those who make precise plans have far more success. Write things down and create a schedule. This lowers stress and leaves less room for excuses.
What do you need to do to achieve your goals? Work out what appropriate action you will need to take. If clear novel plans for a better future are not put in place, I assure you that there will be little or no change in your life.
“As ye think,ye shall be”.Book of Proverbs.
Put a system in place that will support change by giving you the structure you need. To ensure your goals are not pie in the sky, they need to be grounded, including a plan + intention and commitment. A coach is the best resource to ensure you get results by achieving your goals. A lot of people want to self coach. Few people follow through with self coaching. If you were home schooled, you may have the skills to do it on your own. The rest of us need the push, support, encouragement, accountability and momentum that coaching provides. Do you often hear of an athlete or team that achieves success without a coach. Not to my knowledge.
Strategy. Call in reinforcements
Having great goals can be overwhelming.(quitting smoking is a good example). This can lead to incompletion due to perfectionism and the result is procrastination. I coach people using various techniques like EFT/tapping, NLP, TAT, WHEE, CBT, POP, mentoring and counseling. These all produce good results. There is no more powerful tool in the world to actualize change than tapping. Nevertheless there are times when this tool is not enough and you need the guidance, care and nurturing of an experienced mentor who gets to know you and can pinpoint exactly what you need to explore and do to get the fastest results possible. You can do the processes on your own, but it is likely to take longer, be more difficult and generate less results than you would achieve with my guidance.
When it comes to health, you benefit from my 40 years of being in practice as a Naturopath, Homeopath and Herbalist. I have always believed that the most powerful factor in our lives is our thoughts and emotions. Get those working for you and you are well on your way to victory. Learn how to stay in alignment with your mind.
Baby Steps
Break your goal down into bite sized bits. You feel more in control when managing one step at a time. Your goal seems more attainable when you are celebrating the achievement of each step. Break it down into hourly, daily or weekly tasks/steps. You motivate yourself as you tick off each little step that you take. Congratulate yourself each step of the way. It works even if it sounds corny.
Cash Commitment
This system which includes incentives and fines was researched. People who agreed to pay cash when they did not achieve their weight loss goals lost 7 kg more than those without the monetary commitment. This can be apply to any goal. I have had clients offer me large amounts of cash if I could help them stop smoking. Every one of them triumphed just with coaching. The cash commitment was not needed. If working out in the gym is your goal, determine how many times you want to go to the gym in a week. Then work out the amount of cash you would be willing to pay if you do not go to the gym. The cash can go to charity or, if you have an accountability buddy, you can work out a cash reward for achievement or a fine for failure. Like this the community pot pays those who reach their goals. It is a double motivator.
New Years Day and Mondays
Research conducted at Johns Hopkins University shows that the unique cultural associations of Monday as the beginning of the week has the potential to positively affect a range of healthy behaviors. People view Monday (or the first day of the year or month) as a day for a fresh start. People start diets and exercise programs, stop smoking, or schedule health related doctor visits more on Mondays than any other day. That first day of a new cycle feeling motivates them to carry out their health goals for the week.
Keep Your Eye on the Ball
Keep your goals on your wall, at your desk and in your diary.Check them often. Tick baby steps off on your list. Vision boards, maps, lists and pictures that show successes will keep you motivated. Visualize how you will feel after achieving your goal. Create a 2015 vision that supports and sustains you,not one that drains you. You are not creating goals just to use up every last second of your time. The aim is not to end up exhausted and busy all the time. Schedule work time and free time.
Work out which sub-personality is most likely to set you up for sabotage and failure. Is it your inner complainer, inner perfectionist, inner worrier, or achievement junkie? Know your inner enemies and plan to overcome them. Listen for fear based self talk. Work out how you will answer negative demotivating internal chatter. Be aware of the voice of your inner wise guru. Strengthen your connection and listen to it. Rev up your power to say “yes” to what you are committed to that supports you. Say “no” to what does the opposite and weakens you.
Reward yourself
Celebrate your successes and even milestones on your way to success. That makes you more likely to achieve your goals. You can do so with a treat like an aromatherapy bath or massage. For me a book, a mango, a box of blueberries or a chill time in nature will be ample reward. Give yourself praise. Celebrate your playing the game of life and working at manifesting your hearts desires.
Persevere
Persist. Stick with the program for at least 90 to 100 days. This is long enough for building new good habits and breaking lifelong bad habits. I had a severe sugar and wheat addiction. I have broken that now. The same applies to most addictions like smoking or alcoholism, You know if you can have the occasional cheat and stop at that. I have to stay off the addictive substance, otherwise addiction can start again. Know yourself and honour your limitations. Remember, everything counts. Never give up on yourself. I will never give up on my clients. It is simple. Never quit. Be clear on whether you can give yourself the latitude of cheating or not. It’s an individual thing. It is not about cutting yourself some slack and having some fun if you soon back to addiction. Will a little fun result in a melt down and the return of a deadly habit or not? Know yourself and let experience point the way. Be clear on this relating to all your goals. What works and is appropriate for you?
Over to You
This blog gives you lots to think about. To manifest a new reality, you have to get out of your own way. Appreciate your journey. What does not kill you can strengthen you. Fire your inner ‘complaints’ and ‘poor me’ departments. Get past thinking of the whole business as a chore. You are on a noble spiritual quest when you embrace change. I salute you for reading this far. Out the nest you go! Stop delaying and making excuses. Just do it! Go for it until you succeed. May you be both strong and inspired. Please read my upcoming blog on Soul Coaching to put the entire subject of goals into another perspective.
I wish you a successful life.
Love
Michael.