Happy New Year!
You’ve likely experienced it yourself: You are brimming with resolve on December 31st, and by January 31st it’s nowhere to be found. What resolutions? The fact is, if new year’s resolutions were easy to maintain, we’d all be meditating daily, looking hot in our jeans, drinking 8 glasses of water each day, snacking on raw veggies each day, and free of credit card debt. There’s something about sticking with resolutions, and the changes they entail, that is a bloody lot easier said than done. But the truth is that we all have the ability to create the changes we really want and stick with the resolutions we make. It’s just that we don’t apply the strategies needed to see them through.
As you know, I’ve got a L-O-T of change ahead in 2012. Moving to a new country. Finding and setting up a new home. Managing my business across two hemispheres. Settling my kids into new schools. Making new friends. Building new business networks. And in the midst of it all, enjoying the process (i.e., not getting stuck in overwhelm), staying fit, and finishing the book I embarked upon in 2011 (if not two of them.) Yep, when it comes to change, my cup runneth over in 2012!
Of course just because I’m a trained coach, doesn’t mean that I never get stuck myself. Or stressed. Or overwhelmed. But what I know is that using the right strategies can make the difference between success and failure, optimism and overwhelm, productivity and procrastination… wonder and terror! So I hope that as I do my best to “walk my talk” in 2012, that you will find the strategies below helpful in making the changes and taking the chances you want to make in the months ahead… purposefully, powerfully and courageously!
1. Connect to Core Values. Most people like the idea of looking better, getting richer and feeling happier. But if you are going to stick with a resolution that requires changing a long-held habit of thought or action, it has to go beyond superficial desires and connect with your deepest values. What do you care about most in life? Loving and supportive relationships, a feeling of health and vitality, being purposeful and passionate about your work/career, contributing to your community, adventure and fun, financial security, spirituality? Wanting to get back into your skinny jeans because you want to look hot is great. But that’s likely not gonna be enough when you face the temptation of hitting snooze or looking at the dessert menu. Connect to a deeper and more fundamental value: it’s really important for you to feel good in your body, have energy for your family and feel truly alive. [...]
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I’ve always liked to think of myself as a “do it now” sort of person. But over the last week I’ve realized that actually, I’m sometimes use “busy-ness” as an excuse not to do the things I know I really should. Not the little things (like cleaning out my kitchen drawers of accumulated crap), but the bigger things… like putting together proposals to run corporate workshops, offering a group coaching course, building an online Courage Club… stuff that will require more time, more commitment, and involve a bigger risk of failure.
In fact I think it’s something everyone does from time to time. Sometimes it’s mundane stuff like filing taxes. But more often it’s the bigger stuff. Like ending a relationship that’s dragging us down, beginning the process of pursuing a more rewarding career path, getting back into shape, or to pursuing a long held dream. [...]
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