One month in, how you doing?

If you’re like me, you set a few goals for 2021 but it’s not been as easy to live into them as you had planned, or even hoped. Some of the things on my list include:

·      Health – eat less and exercise more

·      Liquids – less sweetened, more water

·      Reading – less screen time, more books

·      Friends – less by text, more in person

We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible (James Clear, Atomic Habits).

It all comes down to discipline, which does not come easy to most of us. But if you can start small and do things slowly, incrementally and not all at once, they become a habit and then a routine and all of the sudden, you’re looking good because you’re feeling confident! 

It does not happen easily, but slowly and intentionally wins the race. Think tortoise, not hare. More from James Clear:

“Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, writing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other goal, we put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about.

Meanwhile, improving by 1 percent isn’t particularly notable – sometimes it isn’t even noticeable – but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run.”

But if you want to see results in the long run, then you’ve got to think daily discipline, which may look like this:

·      No sweets today and a 15-minute walk

·      One less Coke today and drink one glass of water

·      Leave the phone in the other room and read 30 minutes

·      Schedule to get coffee or lunch with a friend

Reflect on January and evaluate yourself in 3 ways: 

1.     What’s working that you need to keep doing?

2.     What’s not working that you need to stop doing?

3.     What’s missing that you need to start doing?

It’s a new month full of new opportunities, so let’s keep growing and improving.

Make it happen.