Happy New Year
How are the resolutions going. I didn’t make any this year mainly because I’m still working on last years and didn’t need the additional burden!
We are funny animals aren’t we! Imagine an alien watching our behaviours and shaking their head, or whatever shows wonderment and a touch of disapproval. “Look at them, incapable of simply deciding to change! They need a reoccurring cosmic event to bring in change! Even then by the time they’re one month in the old habits are back in charge, hopeless”.
Refer above if you think I’m saying I am any better than you dear reader. The thing I have learned is change is a decision backed by action. As Tanja put it yesterday “Declare, dig a ditch then persist”. To make change you have to tell the world what you are going to do. Make a commitment publicly.
When you do this you open the door all sorts of opportunities and possibilities coming your way to aid and assist you in your change. When I declared I’d take up swimming to improve my fitness the local pool owner would only take half the normal fee off me “Because I wouldn’t stick to it”. Further, he bet if I did finish the season the next season would be on him! Fantastic for me he immediately provided an incentive for me to fulfil my commitment.
Dig a ditch
When I started swimming there was every reason to believe I wouldn’t last. I could not swim more than 10 strokes freestyle and not even 25 m breaststroke. Yes I felt a “charlie horse” making a public commitment to swimming 1 kilometre 3-4 times a week when in reality I could only swim 25 m breaststroke.
You do not need to know you can achieve your goal at the time you set out on the journey. All you need is the willingness to try to the best of your ability and build on that.
I swam as far as I could then walked, then swam again. First it was a couple of lengths (100 m) then 250 m then I built my skill, strength and fitness up to swimming the whole journey. Then 300, 400, 500 and after about 3 months 1 kilometre all breaststroke. Now I’m swapping from breaststroke to freestyle as I head toward my next goal 1500 m freestyle before age 60 (for the record I’m 58, did you spot the declaration?)
Now the “biggy” persistence.
For me the challenge was the pool closing for winter. Fortunately I live in Queensland so the pool was only closed for 4 months May-August. Frankly, it was hell as I hadn’t made plans for it, big mistake! If you are making a change do a risk analysis. Figure out what can derail you and plot a track around, over, under or if needs be straight through the obstacle. Barriers are easily overcome if you can plan in advance. This off season it will be a boxing bag and the occasional visit to a heated pool. This year I won’t stop building my strength and condition and next Summer 1500 m freestyle!
You don’t need to make a New Years Resolution if you want to make change what you do need to do is summon all the help you can get by making a commitment. Show your willingness to do the work needed and plan for persistence by working out the risks and plotting a path past them.
Just remember unless you make a conscious decision to make a change your patterns, your reticular activating system (RAS) will return you to status quo for your own “safety”. This applies to every aspect of your life.
If you would like a start on how to tackle the bad patterns in your life click on the button below to access our Mini Master Class on Living Consciously on me.