My Resolution Delusion - and what you should do about it

HAPPY NEW YEAR and wow, January is over.  Did you make any resolutions?  Did you think about last year's goals and how well you succeeded at them? 

Make this year different.

How often have you started the year off with lots of enthusiasm for a particular thing, only to discover that by the end of January it was a distant memory?  I'm sure your goal was real.  I'm sure you had every intention of accomplishing it.  So what really happened?  For me, it's the Resolution Delusion.

Resolutions come from great ideas.  Resolutions come from excitement.  Resolutions come from wanting a fresh start or a new perspective on things.  I love resolutions and the promise of accomplishment and achievement.

However, as time passes, something changes.  Maybe like me, you experience a lack of motivation, an emotional letdown, even general overwhelm with all the other things that need to be done.  And really, thats ok - I've even come to expect it.  If keeping resolutions were really so easy, there wouldn't be so many tips for how to keep them. 

The Resolution Delusion happens because of misunderstanding or even a misbelief, about the resolution.  One key to keeping a resolution is to set  goals that directly relate to it.

Most everyone who talks about goals refers to making them SMART.  SMART is an acronym I learned quite a while back, and while it works some of the time, it doesn't work all of the time.  If you don't know about writing SMART goals, go to http://topachievement.com/smart.html and read up on them. 

I have a goal to be physically stronger.  Using the SMART system helps me identify the specifics, like deciding how much stronger and by what date.  It gives me the opportunity to map out action steps like running rather than walking with the dog and adding a specific type of weight lifting routine during the week.

One reason just using the SMART system alone may not work is because it lacks an essential reference.  Anything you decide to do must have a certain degree of importance to you or, eventually, you just stop doing it.  Maybe, you never really get started.

Knowing exactly what is valuable to you will help you be more successful with accomplishing goals.  Before identifying goals, first list your VALUES.  Do you believe time is important?  Perhaps you are more esoteric and value something like Beauty.  Whatever it is, having a clear understanding of what you value creates a strong foundation for turning your Resolutions into Reality.

Write down your life's principles, then write your goals.   Afterward, see whether the goal maps to a specific value from your list.  If not, you're less likely to be committed enough to complete the goal, so go ahead and take it off the list. 

Here is an example:   My goal to be stronger comes from wanting to actively play with my kids, which for me, includes picking them up.  Ever remember asking your dad or mom to swing you around and hearing, "You're too big…"?  I don't want to have to say that to my 6yr old who is 60lbs. 

Because one of my highest values is Health and Wellness, this is a goal that I will  achieve because it is directly related to what is most important to me.

My goal also has other SMART components because it's specific - picking up 60lbs - as well as measurable - I can either do it, or I can't.

What about you?  Take a look at your resolutions again and decide which of your values support it.  If there is a connection, you're on the path toward successfully achieving it!

In an upcoming post, I'll give you THE most important tip for keeping resolutions.

To a resolute you,
Dawn

Must Have Tip for Aging Well

So many of my clients share with me the comments from other medical professionals that sound like this:

"You're not young anymore!" or "This is just what happens at this age..."

I think those statements are true for most people because so many of them are making the same choices as they age.  Think about it for a moment.  You move a lot in your 20s - getting together with friends, going out dancing, playing sports, etc.  In your 30s you're settling into a career and starting a family.  By the time you've reached the 40s, you've had 10 years of a lot less activity on top of a lot more sitting.  When you make it to your 50s, you're wondering what could possibly have happened cause now there is that nagging knee thing, or the shoulder isn't quite right, or you have to 'baby' your back.

At this point, you've said to yourself "I can't _____ like I used to!" far too many times and you begin to believe you can't do much of anything anymore.  While it's totally true that you can't _____ like you used to, it's not because of your age.  That's the excuse.  That's the fallback.  That's the myth.

The truth of the matter is that you haven't done _____ since your 20s when you did it nearly every weekend.  It doesn't help that your mind remembers how wonderful it was but doesn't take into account  1  how long it's been, and, 2  the fact that you didn't maintain the endurance, musculature, or flexibility to do it.

So the tip to aging well is to keep doing.  If its been a long time, go slow and ease back into it.

If you have an ache or pain that is preventing you from even starting, call for a complimentary 15 minute AGE-LESS consultation: I'll show you how to eliminate the problem and you'll be doing again in no time.

www.bodywisebodywork.com/growingyounger
206.898.5327

Aging? Stay Young

In my Growing Younger Program, I work with people from the age of 40 years to 90 years or more.  One of my clients shared with me his finding that the third most common cause of death in the elderly is falling.

When children are learning to walk, they fall over all the time.  My kids fall down by choice, they trip and tumble in the yard just as easily as throwing themselves onto a pile of pillows.  When I trip on a tree root during a hike, I easily catch myself and keep moving.

Our bodies learn bipedal motion by trial and error.  Through the early years of our development, we take advantage of our ability to balance so easily.  Eventually we advance to perfecting complex movement through the pursuit of sports, dance, and even music.

At what point do we go from being mobile to so immobile that falling is our demise?  Falling fits into the category of one those things easy to avoid.  There are handrails, canes, walkers, and wheelchairs.  And these items, while helpful, don't make changes to the primary source of stability.

The Growing Younger Program restores basic movement patterns that combine into better functional mobility.  While it isn't just for the elderly, they are the group that notice the changes quickest.  Growing Younger is also for men and women who recognize that aging can change them but doesn't have to. 

Avoid common difficulties of aging, stop getting older and start Growing Younger immediately.  Call for a complimentary 15 minute AGE-LESS consultation and I'll share with you how to stay young for the rest of your life.

http://bodywisebodywork.com/growingyounger
206.898.5327