Hand Weights
Here we go again January resolutions. What will yours be this year?
Will it be…
1) Losing weight
2) Eating Healthier
3) Stop biting your fingernails
4) Stop cursing
5) Spend more time with family and friends
6) Start going back to Church
There are so many options to choose from each year and so many ways to fail.
This year instead of deciding on New Year’s Day start thinking about it now, today. First take a good look at your life. What in your life do you dislike? What makes you the most frustrated and what have you always wished was different about yourself? Think about your body, health, eating habits, exercise habits and personality in general. Think about a normal day in your life. Are you happy, grouchy, content or angry? What puts you into those moods that you maintain daily? Go to the source of what truly makes you react to others and defines you as a person. This is not easy work. Making a list would be a good start. You can write down the Pros about your life, personality, health and relationships. Then make a list of Cons about your life, personality, health and relationships.
Once you make your list pick one thing, yes, just one thing you want to change, the thing that drives you crazy. Once you pick that one thing. Analyze it why do you do it? Where did that habit come from and what affect does it have on the people around you? Really over analyze that one thing. Then make a list of ways you can change that one thing. Once you have made the list decide on the three most realistic ways to change that thing in your life.
Now that you have decided on what to change write it and the three ways you want to change it and the result of changing that habit on 5 different pieces of sticky paper.
Put those 5 pieces of paper in 5 different places:
1) By your bedside
2) In your car – where you can see it, not everyone else
3) In your wallet
4) At your work place in a private place that you will see often
5) In your bathroom at home
These pieces of paper must have not only the bad habit on it and the 3 ways to change the habit but also the new habit or result that you can picture when you have transformed. For example if I picked stop cursing then my piece of paper would say:
Problem: Cursing
1) Calm down with deep breathes instead
2) Close my eyes and picture a sunset over the ocean
3) Count to ten
Result: Less anger, more kindness
Now take the challenge and really work on it this year. Try it with the sticky paper for 30 days and see if you can see a difference in that habit. If you believe in yourself you can make it happen but it also takes self discipline and you can do it. When you want to forget the whole thing and give up just think about what changing that habit can do for your life, your personality and your relationships. Take the challenge this year and make a realistic resolution and try it!
