First of all Happy New Year 2019!
So we all want to make this year better than the last one, try our best and sincerely vow to better ourselves. And it rarely sticks… and do you know why? because you have a resolution, but you don’t have a goal. What’s the difference?
HAVING AN ACTUAL PLAN.
I’ll show you how I make my resolutions rock solid, and follow through on them 90% of the time. So how do I start?
The good
By CELEBRATING!
What I do is grab a pen, open my Journal, and I write down all the beautiful things that happened to me in 2018.
Yes using a pen and paper takes more time and energy but the purpose here is to make things count, not to be expedient. If you were attracted to “The Slow Method” it probably isn’t because you’re looking for more speed in your life, but for more depth and meaning.
I try do things in an approximate order. I go over my main categories, and try to match progress in them with events, trips, moments that capture them, and tel the tales that illustrate the progress.
I go over :
- relationships (love, friends, family)
- health (fitness, self-care, nutrition)
- business (blog, personal training, books)
I only have 3 categories because I need things to stay simple, and over-categorising makes me freeze in fear. 3 categories in my life I can manage, and they then subdivide them into 3. Over the years I’ve realised that any more than that and I freak out.
In my world, anything outside of those three categories is unnecessary. But this doesn’t mean I don’t do anything else, it just means that the rest is down time. Music, restaurants, travelling, Netflix, movies… All relaxing and down-time, and doesn’t really have to be measured or improved.
I don’t time myself for this, I just go for as long as i feel. I don’t have to chronologically go over every detail of my year, I just want to feel good about what I did with it. And once I feel I’ve successfully described all the good things that happened to me to make me feel good about it, I go to the next phase.
The bad
I either put the journal down, and come back another day (that’s what I’ve done THIS year), or I go straight into what didn’t go great. Here again, no need to spend hours feeling bad, just go over what didn’t go as planned, and make sure you use that in your planning for the coming year.
Now for the fun part.
The new
I Chose 3 new things I want to get done. That’s it. 3. If the goals are important, they’ll be complex, and probably quite difficult, more than I think they would be. So I focus on 3, and if I achieve them fast, then I immediately set new ones (that RARELY happens… I tend to be too optimistic).
Example :
- Write a book on strength
- Lift more weight
- Lower bodyweight
Once I have determined the 3 Goals, I need to immediately determine a measurable way to determine when I will have achieved said goal.
Example :
- Finish 1st draft before 1st of August, reedit 3 times, and send to 10 people for feedback between each reedition before 1st of december. Publish finished version 1st of january.
- Before 31st of December lift 80kg in snatch, 110kg clean and jerk, 200kg deadlift, 160kg squat, 120kg bench press, 80kg overhead press.
- Lower bodyweight to 82kg for 1st of august, then allow to go back up to a maximum of 85 kg on 31st of december.
I now have deadlines, and can write then down in my google calendar.
This is where I realise if my goal are truly realistic. Are they? If not I reduce them, if they are leave them that way, if they seem too easy, I still leave them that way, and have a new goal prepared in case, so I keep the momentum going.
Once I have put all my deadlines in, I need to prepare a plan for each of those 3 items in order to achieve said plan.
Example :
- Write a book on strength : Write 5 pages a week
- Lift more weight : Write out program in 12 week cycles with a 2% progress margin per 4 weeks MAXIMUM
- Lower bodyweight : Figure out needed weekly weight loss until august, and see if it is between 500g and 1kg. I can allow a fast 2kg weight-loss on first week that will then stabilises.
Once I have carefully planned everything out, all I have to do is follow it.
I don’t have resolutions anymore, they have become projects, with goals, and they are set in the real world, with real plans, and real actions to be taken.
So go and sit down, and make this the best year you ever had.
I wish you a beautiful 2019, full of wonderful achievement!
Morgan