How are you doing with your new years resolutions? That bad, huh? Well, if you’re like most people then all the plans you made during the first week of January are probably in the tank and as the weeks rolled on you found yourself getting back to how you always did life. Has frustration set in because the changes you wanted to make just didn’t stick?
Maybe it’s because you’ve kept doing things the same way but expecting different results.
Yvonne discovered this every morning when she would open her cosmetics drawer. The items inside would be rolling all over the place and she would have to sort through everything so she could find what she needed. So each day after she was finished using the items she would lay them out in an organized manner then close the drawer expecting them to stay that way. But guess what would happen the next time she opened the drawer? That’s right – the items would be rockin’ and rollin’ all throughout the drawer. She kept doing things the same way but always hoping for a different result. The only way she would get a different result when opening the drawer would be if she made a change. If she put the items in various small containers in the drawer so the items wouldn’t shift around now she could expect a different result from what she had been doing, which she has since done.
So here are our suggestions in making changes that last —
1. Write Down The Changes
When you write down the changes you will move towards accomplishing them. If you don’t write them down but leave them sitting in your brain they then seem too big and unattainable which leads them to be “something you’ll do someday.” Ask yourself these three questions as you write them down —
What is to be accomplished?
How much is to be accomplished?
By when will it be accomplished?
One of the major resolutions people make at the beginning of each year has something to do with getting healthier. So utilizing those three questions you might say “2005 is the year to get healthier” by changing to a healthy diet coupled with exercise. To accomplish this you want to do baby steps.
2. Take Baby Steps
Take what you want to accomplish and break it down into baby steps that would stretch you but not discourage you.
Example: Let’s say you want to start exercising so you tell yourself that you will go to a local gym 6 days a week for 2 hours each day. Now that would be – and let’s be honest here – overwhelming and discouraging. But a ‘baby step’ would be to find two 10 minute time periods in a day to exercise. Do this for a month, increasing just a minute a day. Then the next month you take another baby step.
3. Replace One Behavior With Another
You may need to replace one behavior with another one. In your quest to eat healthier you decide to stop eating sugary products. That’s very good – but – if you stop, as the expression goes, cold turkey, you will wind up with sugar cravings. If you haven’t planned for something else to replace the sugar, like a frozen piece of banana or a couple of frozen grapes (that always takes the edge off for Yvonne) you will fall back to your old habit of unhealthy sugar. It’s the same with anything you want to change – such as going from a criticizer to an encourager you can’t stop the habit of criticizing unless you replace it with words of encouragement to others. The more you practice encouragement, criticism will become less and less.
4. Making Daily Choices
Daily choices will affect your results. It’s the little choices you make each day that impact the outcome of what you want to change. Every day you have a choice to start exercising or put it off another day. Today you have a choice to eat certain foods that will only sabotage the weight loss you want or you can eat healthier foods that will help you.
When you realize making a change in your life is built on daily choices you will become more aware of the choices you’re making as opposed to just “letting things happen.”
5. Program Yourself For Success
Write out, memorize and quote scripture that will encourage you, such as “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13) – and – “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom 8:37). There so many more that can lift your spirit as you make changes in your life..
Also create and often read a “reasons list” for the changes you want to make. For a couple of days as you’re deciding what changes you want to make, write down the reasons you want to make the changes. It is the “reasons” for the change that’ll keep you motivated to head towards your goal.
6. Recruit Help
Tell your family and friends about your goals. Ask for their support and encouragement (1 Thess 2:12). Making any changes always seems easier when you have people encouraging you.
To summarize – you can work on the process of change but keep in mind the power of change comes from God. He promises us that He will give us the desire and power to change those things in our life that seems impossible to change (Phil 1:6 and Phil 2:13). Draw closer to Him through reading His Holy Word and praying every day.
Final Thought — The two of us will soon be “Life Coaches” and will be available to partner with those who seek one or more transitions in their life. Next month details will be sent to you to further explain what a Life Coach is and what we have to offer.
PO Box 5517
Palm Springs, CA 92263
Phone: 760.328.2028
Email: btmin@aol.com