Tips on Keeping New Years Resolutions

Are you one among millions who will be making a New Year’s resolution this year? Are you also one among the millions that will break your New Year’s resolution? Every year resolutions are made and either forgotten or broken before the year is half over. Take the number 1 goal of all: weight loss and/or exercise. Health club memberships increase dramatically in January but 84% of these people will not keep their resolution.

Often guilt ensues when someone realizes that their resolutions have not been met and maybe never will be. This completely defeats the purpose since making resolutions is to change a person positively and feeling guilt is not a positive emotion.

So, how can a person make and keep a resolution? Following these tips and advice will help you on your way to keeping a resolution.

Be Realistic: Often, people make resolutions in the “heat of the moment.” That is, they make resolutions on the night that they are celebrating the New Year. People are having a good time and feel that they can accomplish anything but goals should be well thought out plans, not whims of fancy. Pick resolutions that you can accomplish and pick a time limit in which you can accomplish it.

Be Specific: State what it is that you really want. The goal “losing weight” is not adequate enough; you must know how much weight you want to lose and how you are going to lose it.

Choose the Right Goal: If you are a woman over 40 then choosing a goal to become an Olympic gymnast is not the right one for you since Olympic gymnasts tend to be 12-18 years old. But taking a gymnastics or aerobics class in your town is an adequate goal. Or wanting to move to another country without ever having been there first probably is not a smart goal, but visiting that country first is. Choose the goal that is feasible; that fits within your means and needs.

Develop a Plan: Now that you have your goals in mind you need to develop a plan. Let’s stick the number one goal, losing weight, and decide from there where we need to go. You know that you want to lose 20 pounds. So, the goal is realistic and hopefully right for you. The first step might be to seek a doctor’s counsel. It is possible that exercising, dieting or losing 20 pounds is not feasible considering your health. A doctor will let you know that or let you know how much weight or what type of exercise is feasible for you. Then your next step could be to enroll in a health club and have professionals help you lose the weight, or enroll in club that will teach you the proper portions and eating habits that will help you to lose the weight. Think through every goal in baby steps, writing each step down, and how long you think it will take you to accomplish that step. Even if the step is minor such as “call the doctor for an appointment.” The step would be to “call doctor by Monday.”

Remain flexible: Life happens when you aren’t looking. No one can tell what might happen in the next 365 days and certain goals may to be delayed, altered or dropped completely. Again, with the weight goal, if the doctor visits shows that 20 pounds might not be healthy for you (you might be 6 foot tall and only way 120 as it is) but that 10 is better, then take his advice and alter your goal. Or, you may find out that you are pregnant. In this case your exercise and diet regimen would have to either stop or be altered. Maybe you break a leg and can’t exercise for 3 weeks and this goes beyond your goal set time. Be flexible, no one is looking at your time limit except you. When you set your own deadline you can move that deadline. You may also have to add steps or take some away depending on how your needs or wants change.

Stay on Track: This is probably the most important step of all. Staying on track means more than just to keep track of your individual steps and when they were met. This means to stick to the goal as well. Don’t attend 3 sessions of exercise and upon seeing no results except some sore muscles decide to quit. There is nothing wrong with abandoning a goal, it is your choice, but you must give it a try first. That is why baby steps are a great method. Instead of one large step you have a multitude of baby steps that you get to cross off your list one at a time.

Following these steps can help you along your resolution path of success. Another great tip not mentioned above is that not all resolutions have to start on January 1st. The dates for starting and completing a goal can be different. It is easier to accomplish a few goals throughout the year rather than starting them all the first week in January. This is one of the main causes for breaking goals.

About the Author: Deanna Anderson is from Sumter, SC, USA. She is a freelancer writer whose articles appear mostly on the internet.

If you’re ready to reach yoru personal goals and would like to work with a coach – why not grab our free 20 minute coaching consultation or simply sign up now one of our affordable coaching packages and allow me to help you reach your personal goals.

Enjoying Life to Its Fullest

Knowing how to enjoy life to its fullest isn’t always an easy thing to do. You know there has to be more to life than work which seems to take up the lion’s share of your day. Read through the suggestions here to learn how to recognize what is truly important in life and how to enjoy it to the fullest.

Many people go through high school with a goal in mind. They have a good idea what it is they’d like to do with their lives and are willing to do what it takes to reach those goals. Unfortunately, even though having career goals is to be commended, if you’re not careful you can lose sight of what is most essential to your mental and physical health.

Spending quality time with your family is often one of the first things to feel the pinch of career goals. It is so easy to work harder or later in order to move forward on the job. However, even though you must have a job to earn money, you don’t want to allow relationships within your family to suffer. How can you spend more time with them and still move forward?

It is a good idea to guard your weekends and spend that time building family relationships by eating meals together, playing sports, having a family game night or simply watching movies together. Don’t forget to use some of that time talking with your family about their hopes and dreams.

Surrounding yourself in nature is something else you can do to help you enjoy life to its fullest. Get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine. Take up an outdoor sport or hobby. Being outdoors will also give you much needed vitamin D and fresh air. You’re sure to feel invigorated after being outdoors for any length of time.

Close personal relationships outside of your family are also vital to living life to its fullest. While you need to have close ties with your family, you also need close friendships. They often meet a need you don’t even know you have but that family members can’t meet.

Carpe diem! This is translated as ‘Seize the Day’ and encourages people to enjoy the day while they can. Rather than getting bogged down by the cares of the day to the point where you can’t move, seizing the day means you take time to smell the flowers as you pass by, watch your children jump in a pile of leaves or take pleasure in a lazy day swinging in a hammock.

Be adventurous. Don’t be afraid to take chances every once in a while. Life is full of challenges on its own, but you can be adventurous in many ways. Take skydiving lessons, go bungee jumping or learn something else that is out of the ordinary and unexpected for you.

The above are only a few ideas of how to enjoy life to its fullest. Think about the things you’ve always wanted to do or places you’ve wanted to visit. Don’t wait too long to follow your dreams – rather start making plans to live life each day.

If you’re ready to start enjoying life to its fullest– why not grab our free 20 minute coaching consultation or simply sign up now one of our affordable coaching packages and allow me to help you reach your personal goals.

Tips To Stop Procrastination

Do you hear yourself saying, ‘I will do it later’ more than you care to mention? You lose time and energy and achieve less as a result of putting things off. Do not let that dreaded procrastination bug get you down anymore. There are ways to beat it.

1. Divide and conquer a large project by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Start off slow using small baby steps. Going through the tasks one by one will be much less stressful and overwhelming than trying to get a large project finished all at once. And as soon as action has begun on a specific task, you just might find the project taking on a life of its own and actually becoming enjoyable.

2. Try completing a task immediately. Do not give it any thought. Just do it. This is a great way to get things done fast as you will not be spending time thinking about it beforehand. And it is a good way to prevent you from even thinking any thoughts about putting off the task for another day.

3. Reward yourself when you complete a task or a series of tasks. This is a step that many people forget to take into account. As an incentive and to boost motivation, give yourself a reward for accomplishing a task and accomplishing it on time. Whatever the reward may be, whether it is simply a positive affirmation or buying yourself a treat, make sure the reward is something that inspires and motivates you to get the job done. Remember to reward yourself throughout a project, not just at the end.

4. Create a to-do list. It is better to write tasks down then to have them sitting in our mind where they can get lost with all of our other thoughts. Write down all of the things you have been putting off and keep that list in view. As you complete each task, cross it off, and continue to go down the list. Keep a note pad handy to record tasks as you think of them. Keeping all of your projects on a central to-do list will prevent tasks from being forgotten. As you check items off your to-do list, you will be able to track projects and see the progress you are making.

5. Create a schedule and set deadlines. A task without a deadline is destined to be put off indefinitely. Scheduling is very helpful in getting tasks accomplished and it keeps projects on track. Make sure your scheduling is reasonable and not too stringent. Spread a large task out over several sessions. This will prevent you from getting bogged down with one large task or project thereby making it easier to want to put it off. Take 5-10 minutes at the end of each day to look over what you have accomplished for the day and get an idea of what you wish to accomplish the following day. Finally, make a weekly appointment with yourself to plan tasks for the upcoming week to follow through on your goals.

6. Eliminate distractions. Distractions are one of the biggest reasons tasks are not started or finished. In fact, you may find yourself looking for distractions to avoid working on tasks. Focus by turning off the television, cell phone, the Internet, etc. Clear off your work area. Try to keep things in your office and home in order. Keep it tidy and clean. Order helps to curb procrastination and a clean environment tends to create a clearer mind.

7. Use a timer. Set a timer for 30 minutes and begin a task. Setting a time limit will help you focus on the task at hand, curb daydreaming and motivate you to complete the work. And once you have started the task, you may find yourself becoming absorbed in what you are doing and continue with it rather than stopping when the 30 minutes is over.

8. Avoid perfectionism. It is important to understand and remember that no one and nothing is perfect. Thinking that you must do the job perfectly on the first try will likely prevent you from ever getting started. This expectation creates stress, anxiety and the fear of failure. Keep in mind that you are a human and that being perfect tends to lead to procrastination and that it is perfectly O.K. to not get the project done perfectly. Instead of striving for perfection, aim for progress.

Get Organized Now is an amazing collection of 2,175 ideas, tips and techniques for organizing your home, your clutter, your time, your schedule, your money, your paper, your family and much more!

Think you can’t do much in 20 minutes? Schedule a free 20 minute coaching consultation with certified Personal Life Coach Aurelia Williams and start forming your plan of action today!

Holiday Specials For You

Each year I make a few New Years Resolutions and one of them is to help you sitck to yours!

It’s that time of the year again; when we make a New Years resolutions. If you are anything like the majority of people in this country (76% to be exact), you probably made and broke a resolution before the end of January last year. Let’s make this year different. Allow me to help you get to your ultimate goal – whatever it may be one step at a time.

It doesn’t matter if you resolve to loose some weight, stop smoking or carve some more time out for yourself. Together we will get you there this year. Here’s to a successful 2011.

2010 Reflection

The end of the year has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the new year to come. It’s a wonderful time to reflect on the changes we want and need to make and resolve to follow through on those changes.

Here are some questions to get you started in your reflection.

1) What did I learn? (skills, knowledge, awareness, etc.)
2) What did I accomplish? (Create a list of your accomplishments and achievements).
3) What would I have done differently? Why?
4) What still feels incomplete or unfinished to me?
5) What were the top 3 significant events of the year past?
6) What do I feel especially good about?
7) What were my biggest challenges/roadblocks/difficulties?

Carve out some time to reflect, learn and grow from the past year. This will prepare you for a positive New Year ahead. You can accomplish just about anything you ask of yourself. Make your goals specific and clear. When you know exactly what you intend to do, you’re well on your way to getting it done.

Holiday Special

I am offering my subscribers a 20% discount on any of my coaching packages from now until January 31st.

Once you choose the package you are interestedin, simply email me at info@reallifecoaching.net to obtain your coaching package at your discounted price. This also makes a wonderful gift for a loved one!

A Freebie For You

Try a Free Session on the house! I offer free 30-minute consultations (valued at $45); by telephone, instant messenger or in person to help you decide if coaching is for you. You’d be suprised to see how much we can cover in just 30minutes.