New Year, Best Year

You know I love an opportunity for reflection and goal setting. The reality is that we don’t actually have to wait until the first of a month or a new year. This can (and probably should) be done regularly if we are living our lives with intention. One pushback I get is “ugh I just don’t have the time”.. well, what if I told you setting goals and coming up with action plans actually SAVES time. It’s true. The amount of time we waste trying to make a decision or negotiating with ourselves is completely removed when we set intentions and goals and make decisions based on those and based on who we want to be. You have to first know where you are now in order to decide where you want to go. As a coach, my role is to guide, encourage and remind my clients of their why, their goals, their intentions and reasons to keep going. Our check-ins together provide that set time to plan, review, analyze and pivot if necessary. I’ll give you examples of planning ahead. If you meal plan and prep, you know exactly what you are eating and when. You have already prepped ahead of time so when it’s meal time you don’t have to make a quick decision based on what you “feel” like eating. Now, I understand that makes it sound easy. It’s not quite that easy. It does take some discipline, right? Because the reality is that when meal time comes, you very well could have had the best intentions when you prepped that lean protein and veggies… however, now that you’re ready to eat all you want is to order a pizza (or is that just me lol). So, you still have the decision to make. If my intention is to get healthier and my goal is to lose 15 pounds for example, now is when it matters. Which meal will get me closer to that goal? Which one is taking me in the direction of the person I want to become? Which one is providing the best fuel for my body? In my experience, the more you work that decision muscle it does get easier when you’re trying to change habits. Give yourself as little time as possible to make the decision. It does get to a point where you don’t even think about eating something other than what you planned. Another example is planning to exercise. If you have a plan then you know exactly what time you will work out, which workout you will do, what supplies you will need, where you will work out, who you will work out with.. you get the idea. If you don’t have a plan and you go into the day only hoping to get some movement in, it most likely won’t happen. You will again spend more time trying to make these decisions - should I exercise today or not, which workout should I do, do I want to go to the gym or workout at home.. and by the time you’ve asked yourself so many questions you are now too overwhelmed and settle for the couch again. To be clear, I’m not saying to never eat pizza or anything other than lean protein and veggies or to workout for hours every single day.. I’m talking about in general (daily decisions) and if you truly have a goal that you are working towards sometimes it does require being a little more strict now so that you can get to a point of maintenance and a different balance in the future. What you eat is what you will crave. Feed your body what it actually needs instead of what your emotions want and you will start to want/crave what your body needs. It’s the same with exercise, you will start to crave it the more you do it. This is why revisiting your intentions and goals regularly is so important. This is why having people in your corner matters, people who support you and have similar goals or who are where you desire to be. It is not the intention that determines success, it’s a start but.. actions and outcomes are what will determine your success.  Attitude matters. Go into the next year as if it will be your best one yet. And be patient with yourself because when you think about all we go through at the end of the year - the holiday stress, maybe guilt for not reaching certain goals and another year passing by, eating more treats than usual, possibly moving less, etc.. We are almost going down this downward slope into the new year.  And then expect something magical to happen on January 1st. That we will all of a sudden be a completely different person and start making the decisions we’ve always wanted to make. There is nothing magical about January 1st or Monday. Start now. Start with the next decision you make. -CS