5 Simple Steps To Crush Your Goals!

The holidays are officially behind us and we are well on our way into the new year! Happy 2019!
How many of you created a new years resolution? I imagine it sounded something like this..
– Exercise more
– Lose weight
– Eat more healthily
– Take a more active approach to health
– Learn something new
– Spend more time on well-being
– Drink less alcohol
If you can see yourself in one of these resolutions, I want to cheer you on and let you know this change is absolutely possible for you! You CAN make this change. We just need to work on a little something as you shift into this new habit.

If you’re only a week into this new year and you already feel like giving up – don’t! You’ve done that too many times before and you deserve more than that. Instead of criticizing yourself for falling off track, try taking a new approach. Together, we can get you to that end goal you crave for yourself. As a coach, I’m here to support you and your goals! As a human, I know it’s not always easy to make changes. I’ve had to make changes in my own life to be where I am today. I’ve learned how to do it and I want to help you do the same.

Let’s start with step one…

1. Clarify your goal. 
“Exercise more”, “lose weight”, “spend more time on well-being”… it all sounds great but, frankly, it doesn’t mean anything. Let’s work on that thing called clarity!
If you’re saying you want to exercise more, what type of exercise do you want to do more of? Why? What’s the greater goal behind this? Are you wanting to exercise for the chemical release, for weight loss, for improved health, for more stamina.. WHY are you doing this? What type of exercise do you want to do more of?  How are you going to make this happen?

No, this does not mean you have to spend more money by joining a gym. Get creative. If you have access to the internet, you have access to SO many videos on YouTube that can take you from novice to expert. Go to the library and learn the basics about fitness. Start where you are with what you have. Don’t have a large weight system? Use books. Use bottles. Use cases of pop. Weight does not always have to take the form of free weights.

You live in a culture that has inundated you with messaging around physical fitness, weight loss, appearance, “health”, and beauty. There’s a lot of money to be made there, but you don’t have to fall for it. Take a look around your home and your neighborhood. Walking into a gym to see all the equipment can be intimidating. Start where you are. If you strip yourself of the fallacies, you will soon discover the reality: you are capable of all you can imagine. 

Let’s move on to step two.

2. Give it 21 days. 
Radically changing your entire life isn’t going to happen overnight. Changing an old habit is the same way. You have to give yourself time to get used to a new normal. Think of yourself as a baby in these new habits you’re building. Maybe a more relatable analogy would be to think of yourself as a puppy or a kitten. Pick whatever you’re most familiar with and frame yourself in the same way.

When that little being comes into your life, you’re watching every single move they make. Constantly checking in on safety, health, strength, and growth. It happens OVER TIME, not overnight. Be gentle with yourself and know that it really does take 21 days to build a new habit. That’s no joke. The hard part is the middle. At the beginning, you’re excited about the potential of what’s to come and the new things you’re going to be able to do. Soon enough, the novelty wears off. You begin to get worn out, tired, and frustrated by the difficulty of the process. At this point, you’re going to be incredibly tempted to fall back into what you already know how to do – how to live. This is when you need to fight through and commit the most. Why?

Because you deserve to know what it’s like to make it to the other side. YOU DESERVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU’RE CAPABLE OF. If I could grab your shoulders and shake you right now, I would. YOU ARE CAPABLE. You have to believe that. Sometimes, the only way to begin believing that is by fighting through the muck that tries to convince you otherwise.

21 days. That’s all it takes to build a new habit. You’ve already given too many days to the habit you want to change. You can do it! I’m here to help! Email me, find me on Instagram (@bravegirlcam), add me on Facebook. Together, we can get you to the other side.

3. Pick 1 thing at a time.
This might seem obvious, but your success is dependent upon your ability to manage one thing at a time. Perceived failure frequently stems from trying to tackle too much at the same time. Think about that in other areas of your life – how do you feel when you have too many balls in the air at once? Are you a pleasant person to be around? Do you feel happy and excited, or stressed out and overwhelmed?

Nothing good happens when you stretch yourself too thin. Stress weakens your immune system and creativity stalls out completely when you feel overwhelmed or confused. That is the opposite of what you want when creating a new lifestyle for yourself or reaching a new goal. Pick one thing at a time. You’ll have time to add new things when your current goal is completed or becomes your new normal.

This is the added benefit of clarity in goal setting. When you’re specific and clear, you know exactly what you want to focus on. Start now. Pick 1 very specific thing you want to work towards and take small steps toward that vision. One step at a time and you’ll change your life. One day at a time. That’s the only way we get to experience life – one day, one moment at a time. It really is in our best interest to do one thing at a time. That’s the most efficient way for our brain to function.

– Add one more day of exercise to your week.
– Focus on taking control of one meal each day to begin eating more nutritiously.
– Drink one more glass of water when you wake up in the morning.
– Set a timer on your phone to cut back on social media.
– Place the phone across on the other side of the room so you’ll put it down and go to sleep.
– Refill the water bottle on your desk so you don’t feel the need to drink another cup of coffee.
– Get up and go for a five minute walk at 2:30 instead of eating a sweet treat or drinking caffeine.
– Get up one hour earlier to incorporate more exercise or journal or meditate or practice yoga or set your intentions for the day
– Place the book right on your pillow so you will read before bed instead of constantly scrolling.
– Go to a library or coffee shop to begin writing that book you wanted to write

Focus on one small change you can make to create the habit you WANT in your life instead of living life on autopilot. Bring a sense of living back into your life by shaking it up.