January…
…the month that many of us like to reinvent ourselves as better, brighter, fitter, healthier and generally remove any ounce of fun to make up for all the over indulgence we may have enjoyed in December. Why do we do this to ourselves during the month when there is probably more of a natural tendency to hibernate and give ourselves a little hygge*. Listen to your body and nurture it. There is nothing wrong with starting a new routine to make yourself healthier and fitter, but do this mindfully. Once you have a new routine established you can amend your goals.
So, tell me how your January goals are looking so far? Have you missed it by a mile, or have you smashed it? If you’ve smashed it, well done! If you’ve missed it, no problem.
Revisit your goals
As we’re nearing the end of January then you may want to revisit the goals set and adjust them for February.
What worked well?
What do you need to amend?
What distractions did you encounter?
What did you enjoy most?
Once you’ve had a think about these questions then setting new goals or adjusting the current one for February may seem a little easier. Remember to take into account anything outside of your normal routine, such as holidays or exams and factor it in to your plan.
How did my January goals go?
Normally my January goals are set three - six months before hand. This January was different due to a complete change in work/life balance. As well as teaching Yoga & Pilates I worked thirty hours in an office. This ended on 4th January, which means I technically have an extra thirty hours + a week to play with. Establishing a new routine whilst managing a bit of building work can really eat into those extra hours!! Rather than set goals I started to write down how I wanted a typical working month and week to look like. What goals would I like to achieve over the next few months and what long term goals would I like to explore.
I don’t imagine these goals will stay the same, goals can be organic, they grow and adapt as you do. Don’t stick to them if they don’t feel right. Trust your judgement and allow yourself to dream, adapt and go with the flow.
Help your plans come alive!
Write and talk. Write down your plans and split them out into categories.
Must do tasks such as:
Pay invoices
Update accounts
Answer emails
Planning
Creative or nice to do tasks/goals:
Blog posts
Podcasting
Workshops
Attend classes
Courses
Research
Think about what makes your business tick over on a day to day basis and incorporate that into the lists.
Write these plans in a note book, use an app or Office applications. Use what comes naturally to start with. You can then start to add how often you’d like to do these activities or how often they need to be looked at. Personally I love a good note book from paper chase to start planning.
Talk about your tasks/goals. You may not necessarily want to talk about the must do tasks, but it might be useful to see how other people achieve their tasks such as accounting. Do you do your own or would you like someone else to pick up this task?
Most of us may enjoy talking about the nice to haves. I’ve found over the last few years that by talking about my goals with friends and work colleagues that in some ways they have enabled my goals to come alive. This has been through a combination of morale support, idea sharing, leads and opportunities. This is the same for networking groups too. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to join one, but there are so many great groups out there with genuine support from people wanting to see others do well.
Now is the time to plan for spring/summer
Look at where you want to be in summer and start making changes to achieve that now.
Do you want to increase you overall health and fitness? Maybe it is just making one change to your diet this week, perhaps adding fruit to your breakfast, five minutes of meditation or a ten minute walk at lunchtime. Start with baby steps and over time it will feel much easier to make additional changes. You wouldn’t run a marathon without building up first!
If your goal is to run a marathon then you break that goal down over a number of weeks/months into smaller manageable chunks. Perhaps your first task will be to walk/jog one mile, breaking it down into intervals or one minute walking and thirty seconds running. The following week you may increase the distance and switch to one minute running and thirty seconds walking.
It’s all about SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound
Good luck with your goals and don’t forget spring is just round the corner!
*First published January 2019
Comentarios