I saw the neatest thing on New Years Day on Facebook and it really resonated in me.
That is such a great way to look at New Years time. Nothing has been written for us - it is all a story that we are in the prices of writing every single day.
How great is that?! If we look at each year as a book in the series of our lives, we are building the great story of who we are. Building upon the years past, setting us up for a story that WE write, not someone else. After all - we are each in charge of ourselves and how we react and create in our lives.
What will you write down in your book this year? Will it be an epic story of weight loss? The tale of going back to school to finish a degree or learning a new skill? Will it be the training log for an event?
My book will be a tale on how I took charge of my happiness and continued on the path of creating those sustainable changes which allow me to live my best life possible. There will be some adventure along the way with epic reports of battling the triathlon beast scoring and some PR's at the 140.6 and 70.3 distance thrown in there for good measure. There will be a romance story woven in as well, working together with my husband as we reshape our bodies though weight loss and better choices in eating. And it will be a comedy because, well it is me.
RESOLUTIONS - WHY NOT TO SET THEM
The blank book analogy got me thinking about how resolutions are made and why we really should not make them. While it is great to have goals, and the start of the new year is the perfect opportunity to make some changes, very few people succeed because they either set unrealistic goals, are not willing to make the changes necessary to achieve the goals, or just simply do not know how to go about it and become frustrated when they do not see the progress they had hoped for.
Statistically, according to the University of Scranton's Journal of Clinical Psychology (as of January 1, 2014 data collected), of the 45% of Americans who make resolutions less than 10% succeed.
Less than 10% of us will succeed in achieving our goals this year. When you look at what goals we are setting, that makes the numbers even more sad as our goals are all to live what we perceive will be a better life.
Type of Resolutions (Percent above 100% because of multiple resolutions)
|
Data
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Self Improvement or education related resolutions
|
47%
|
Weight related resolutions
|
38%
|
Money related resolutions
|
34%
|
Relationship related resolutions
|
31%
|
Everyone has heard the old cliché of the definition of insanity being to do the same thing expecting a different result. In order to achieve a different outcome to 2014 than from 2013, then you must change what is put into 2014. This also means that we can change how we approach the upcoming year.
Resolutions fail because we look at things so black and white. My goal is to quit smoking, so the first time I light up in the new year, I think - gee I have already failed! That is it. I cannot quit.
We need to stop looking at step backs as failures.
No road is ever a straight path. There will be stop signs, bumps, distractions, obstacles. But ato point should any of these be a dead end.
MY PERSONAL CHANGES
GOING TO BED AND WAKING UP EARLIER - NO MORE EXHAUSTED DAYS!
I started my change back in October by waking up earlier to get in my workouts and by meal planning and meal prepping. I will continue to do so in 2014 as this makes me happy and I found that I lose weight and save money in the process. Win win!
PREPARING IN ADVANCE FOR MY WEEK - NO MORE WINGING IT!
I have learned through many set backs that I need to to look ahead a week at a time to be prepared to juggle all that I have going on, and that I cannot just wing it anymore. The days of waking up and looking at the schedule or events for the day to see what I have to accomplish are done for me. I just have too much to balance to leave it up to chance that I will make it all fit.
Also, I am going to give my training my balanced all this year, and not settle for hitting 70% effort like I have in years past. I say balanced all because I do have a full time job with a full time family and full time friends outside of triathlon :-)
CASH BASED SPENDING - SAYING NO TO CREDIT!
I have gone to a cash-based spending system (not even debit card, but actual green cash) and while I have had a budget for as long as I can remember, I am actually going to adhere to it. Novel idea, right? I find that this has helped me two fold: 1, I am more conscious of my money and what I am purchasing, and 2 - I am more conscious on spending the money on needless calories! Do I really want that
LEARNING FROM FAILURE - NO LONGER FEARING IT!
I no longer see the goals ahead of me as daunting simply because I have failed before and lived to give it another shot. Sure I could look at it as re-losing the weight I lost 2 years ago. Failing has given me permission to just go for it. I failed and lived. What more do I have to lose? Nothing at all!
I have closed the book on 2013 and on some lingering emotional topics from 2012. They now sit atop a shelf, not gone and not forgotten; just as prior volumes in the series that is my crazy and wonderful life.
Here is to the best edition yet! 2014: The Year of AWESOME!
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