Welcome to part three of your new approach to making your Resolutions a reality in 2012. If you missed the first two parts of this series, check them out here, Are you asking the wrong question? A New way to approach your resolutions in 2012 and It’s Time To Get Defined. Let’s review, you have discovered the WHY behind your original resolution, established an emotional connection, and defined that why. Now comes the easy part, how are you going to make this happen?
You may have noticed I said this was the easy part and while many of you may be thinking, that’s easy for him to say, hear me out. You have already done the hard part. You have delved into and defined your resolution to a degree that few others ever bother to uncover. You know your WHY, what it means to you and when you will get there. Writing out your plan or “map” is simply a process of backing your way out from the finish through simple and achievable small steps and daily habits.
Your resolution up to this point looks like this, “I want to get into shape so that I have more energy to play on the monkey bars with my kids for 30 minutes without being tired or out of breath.” Obviously if you can not currently do this for more then five minutes you can’t just do this tomorrow because suddenly you have decided it shall be so. This is where we break this down to small, easily attainable steps until they have become habit and you have completed your goal and achieved your resolution.
There was a study done that concluded that in order for a new behavior to become a habit you must repeat it daily over a twenty-one day period. For the sake of this exercise you are going use this three-week time period to reach your goal. To begin your journey you are going to break this down again into three, one-week periods.
Week 1: You are going to play with your kids for 4 minutes on day number one and then add one additional minute every day until on day seven you’ve reached a total of 10 minutes. It doesn’t matter what you are doing or if you can go the whole time without stopping, do whatever you can, just have fun and don’t sweat the outcome. Make sure on one of those seven days you go to the park and make friends with those monkey bars.
Week 2: Great start, now upward and onward, 14 minutes on day number eight and then add one additional minute every day until on day fourteen you’ve reached a total of 20 minutes. Follow the same pattern as last week even if you need to break it down to two, shorter sessions. You are on your way, now attack those monkey bars two times this week and notice how much more comfortable it feels and how much easier it is then the week previous.
Week 3: It’s go time, finish strong, 24 minutes on day number fifteen and then add one additional minute every day until on day twenty-one you’ve reached a total of 30 minutes. You guessed it, in this your final week, you’re dominating those monkey bars three times! Get after it! You’re now giving your kids a run for their money and both of you are loving it!
Congratulations, you have stuck to your resolution for 21 straight days, it has now become a habit and everyone with whom you come into contact from your family and friends to your coworkers and casual acquaintances have probably started to notice the positive change in all aspects of life. It is now time to formulate a maintenance plan, but before we go there let’s look at where you have been and how far you have come.
You started 2012 with the resolution of “getting in shape.” You then took it one step further and found your WHY. You made an emotional connection to why that was important to you and how making that change would positively affect your life and those around you. You defined exactly what that goal meant so that you would know when you got there and you established a plan to follow to make sure you stayed on track.
Your once well meaning, but ill-conceived resolution now reads as such, “I want to get into shape so that I have more energy to play on the monkey bars with my kids. By doing so I will foster a stronger connection with my children, which will make me a happier, healthier and more patient role model. This will make my relationships with my kids stronger since we will be spending more time together, I will be less stressed and have more energy. I want to play with them for 30 minutes without being tired or out of breath. To get there I am going to start out playing with them for four minutes and will increase that amount of time every day over the next 21 days until I reach my goal of 30 minutes. At this time I will reassess my goal to maintain my newfound vitality while continuing to foster a deeper relationship with my children.”
Wow, how is that for an impactful change? Where in your life could you use some positive change? It’s 2012, find your WHY, define it and create a plan to achieve it!
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