How satisfied are you with your life right now? And have you ever given any thought to what you would change, if anything, about your life? Have you ever pondered over what you want more of and what would you want less of in your life? For me, I wanted more connection. I wanted to move away from feeling isolated in the routine of my life. Not that there weren’t plenty of people around me every day; after all, being the fourteenth person in line at a local Dunkin Donuts every day was a definite reminder that I was not alone. I simply craved more joy, and I wanted to feel like I had a purpose beyond getting up in the morning, sitting in traffic and going to my office for eight to twelve hours a day.
Wanting something to be different, means you have to invite change into your life. That’s where I got stuck. You see, in my heart I wanted things to be different; but in my head, I liked the idea that I was comfortable. And I wasn’t quite sure what the outcome would be if I started shaking things up and messed with the status quo. I was running on auto pilot. It was much easier to ignore the whispers in my ear that told me there is so much more out there to life, and so many opportunities to find something that would get me excited and ignite the passion that I felt when I graduated from college years ago, and anticipated that greatness awaited.
It goes right back to knowing what we all know, which is “If you want something to be different in your life, you have to do something differently”. Trust me, creating change is not as scary as it sounds. In fact, discovering new passions or getting reacquainted with old ones can make huge a difference. Let’s just say it’s the difference between a hot chocolate Sunday and a granola bar. Both have their positive attributes, but boy, are they different.
If this resonates with you, then I invite you to begin making moves to find whatever it is you would like to have more of in your life. Feel free to embrace possibility or just take a look around the bend and notice the positive things that are waiting for you. Here’s a few tips to get you started:
- With pen & pad, or your PC in front of you, write down all the things that you love doing. It doesn’t matter if they were things that you did when you were a kid, or when you were single, or when you were ten years younger. Just start making list of all the things that brought you joy. My list included, painting, traveling to new cities, learning a new language, discovering new book shops and finding more jazz festivals.
- Now that you have your list, give yourself a moment to embrace this new perspective, and to get clear on what you want. Think about what serves you in the best way, and what doesn’t. What’s in it for you?
- Get some support. Hire a coach. Hiring a coach can help you stay on track and create structures that keep you focused on pouring back into you. Creating positive change in your life can be challenging, whether you are choosing to lose twenty pounds or planning to run your first marathon. Having a good support structure in place will help you develop your plan, track your milestones and ultimately accomplish your goal.
- Change your behaviors and get started making moves. Take a look at your list and determine what steps you can take to get closer to creating the life you want. Figure out what daily habits you need to develop so that you can get more out of your day. And, even if it’s listening to your favorite music, watching less TV, spending more time outdoors, joining a yoga class , going on a camping trip, or getting together with a group of your favorite people, the idea is to find more joy, any way you can and embrace the changes that lead you there.
My name is Denise Harris, and I’m a life coach, who helps people get out of their heads and into finding more fulfillment and joy in life.
Season’s Greetings!
There is just about ten weeks left until the end of the year. Can you believe it?
Whomever coined the saying “Time Flies” was spot on, and of course, my other favorite quote by Gretchen Rubin “The days are long, but the years are short”, are both so appropriate and a silent reminder that, time waits for no one.
What goals did you start the new year off wanting to accomplish?
For me, my new year began with a list that included losing ten pounds(or more), traveling more, being more resilient, eating healthy and exercising more frequently. Oh, and finding love……yes, that was the big one. I can honestly say that I started out strong in January, faithfully going to the gym two to three times a week, and I even started packing my own lunches to take to the office, so I could avoid going out for lunch and eating something that was, let’s say, not so healthy. And of course, armed with the mindset that I was going to be more resilient, which equated to, I was going to have more willpower, I think my routine lasted well into the first quarter of the year. In other words, there was no exponential growth in my “more of” equation.
What happens to us when our goals start to slip away, when suddenly, they become less important and we determine that other things in our lives are more important and thus the cycle of unfinished goals begins. For some of us, we just figure that, the goals were simply unattainable anyway, and for others, we realize that our level of commitment was just not where it needed to be to make it happen. And we rationalize that thought by stroking our ego and telling ourselves “There’s just too much going on in my life right now. I don’t have the time or the energy”
If you really want to know the truth, for me, and I suspect, for many others, not accomplishing my new year goals was simply because of these two reasons. Number one, my level of commitment was not high enough to match my level of resistance and number two, I did not have any support measures in place. I was simply relying on me, myself and I to get through it. I can tell you that the robust monologues that I was having with myself were not inspirational. There’s another saying though, that says, we get wiser with time, and so as this year comes to an end, I am already thinking proactively and doing things differently to set myself up for success. Here’s my list of 5 steps towards creating goals and accomplishing each one:
- Create 3 to 5 goals that include desires/needs that you are passionate about and establish milestones, complete with mini rewards for when you meet those milestones.
- Instead of creating annual goals, change the timeline to 6 months. This way you will give yourself a shorter window to accomplish what you want and a shorter span of time to check in on your milestones and make changes or adjustments where needed.
- Hire a coach. Working with someone who can help you develop a plan to accomplish your goals and hold you accountable on a consistent basis can make a world of difference. A coach can help you develop structure around your goals so you can reach success.
- Change your morning routine to reflect strong habits that will get each day started on the path to success. You might want to start your morning with meditation or just a few minutes to reflect on how you want your day to go. Whatever you decide, just be consistent in developing a good habit that helps move you forward.
- Mindset – Having the right mindset can make a world of difference. Having a positive attitude, being open to change and not being afraid to fail, trusting yourself and not letting fear hold you back can put you on the right track to accomplishing all that you want.
I hope you find these tips helpful in achieving your goals, and if you want more, then click on the link below and visit my site at Everything Emile. I have designed four thoughtful coaching packages to meet you, where you are, at this moment and help you jump-start your goals right now, whether you want to get something really important done before the end of the year, or you want to create your plan for 2017. Either way, take a look, and find the right package for you.
The time to get started is now, because as we know, time flies.
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