Planning

I’ve never been a huge Resolution person.  However, this year, the New Year’s happens to fall when I’m starting to feel a bit of hope about my future, so I figured I would use it as an easy marker to my goals.

I want these goals to work, so I am putting together a plan, not a list of resolutions.

I put down a general goal.  Then I put down how I am going to achieve it.  ON A DAILY BASIS.

That’s why we fail at our resolutions.  We seem to think that they must start immediately and they are rarely planned.

For example –

One of my goals is to exercise daily.  So my first sub goal – to kind of get me started is to walk to the bottom of the hill I live on and back up it on my birthday – Feb 18.  I live at top of highest hill in Cincinnati.  The walk down and back will 6 miles on a fairly steep incline.  My current state of fitness means a 20 minute walk will exhaust me. 

Now I need to figure out how I’m going to make myself do this.  So I will walk every morning when I get up, before I get on the internet.  I will increase my daily walk by 5 minutes every day.  And by my birthday I should be able to accomplish my goal.

When I have that sub goal taken care of, I will set a new sub goal to keep myself motivated for exercising daily.

I increase my odds of winning these goals by not just planning generally – walk daily, but specifically.  Walk as soon as I get out of bed in the morning.  Because will power is a limited resource and we deplete it.  The tank of will power is fullest after a good rest.  So morning.

I can also increase my success by eliminating any small barriers that tend to halt my good intentions.  So by making sure that I have my clothes out and easily grabbable every morning.

Now the other thing – choosing a priority.  I have 4 main goals for 2016.  Exercise is my priority.  The reason it is my priority is because exercise is a pivot habit.  There are habits that help us start to make new and better habits in other areas of our lives. Its sort of a cascade effect.  I’m not making that up.  Studies have been done.  Its fascinating.  And exercise is one of them.  So that its the one that will have the priority even though getting a new job would seem like the one that is more life changing.

All of these things are plannable and must be planned for me to succeed. But they won’t be the only factor.  The battle with the depression is slippery.  But the meds have started to work more noticeably.  And I’m hoping that will work in my favor.