Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Helpful-How To: Sticking to a Resolution

Did you miss me bossing you around in my weekly HHT posts? 

Telling you how to live your life, tie your shoes, and zip your fly?

I know I have missed being the authority on all things near and far.

And this week, I am back to annoying thrilling you with my amazing wit and charm, while making your life complete with my Helpful How To.

And because, despite the fact that January 1st is just another day on the calendar, it is still another day to decide I want to be better than I already am (yes, people, it is possible!  Shocking, I know....) and to begin working toward that goal.

But the real elbow of the situation probably won't happen in January.

It will probably happen around February 14, when you get that giant box of chocolates and tear into it like a T-Rex in faced with a shiny car full of fresh tourist-meat in Jurassic Park.

Unless, like me, you got sick 1 day into your "New Year, New You Diet".

Then your "elbow of the situation" will happen on day 2.

That being said, where do the resolutions go when you hit the rough spots?

Do they go out the door like last night's trash, or do you pick them back up, brush them back off and embrace them as soon as the opportunity arises?

Either way, here are a few helpful hints for how to remain faithful to your New Year's Resolution:

1.  Be truthful to yourself.

Unless you have one of these


You aren't going to go from this


To this

(Note, this is a GOAL look for me.  This is not a CURRENT look for me.  Oh, and that's me in the orange....)

Without a lot of this.

Whether your resolution has to do with losing weight (me) or saving money (Techy) or making money (Techy) or travelling (me AND Techy) or having a baby (me) or doing home improvements (me) or learning something new (always TECHY!), you have to be honest about where you are starting from and where you want to go and rationalize a REALISTIC way of getting there.

2.  Realize it takes alot of work and even more CONSISTENCY to reach your goal.

As in, you have to be dedicated to your goal daily.  Techy once told me that if I were as dedicated to saving money as I am to losing weight, we would be millionaires.

Know what?  He's probably right!

The point is, you have to approach each day with the bigger goal in mind.

Yes, bumpy days will come. 

And you work around them.

And pick up where you left off after you get over that hump.

3.  Remember, you don't want to achieve your resolution through means you can't live with.

The idea of a resolution is to get you to a better place, right?

So why not stay there?

In that case, the best way to get there is by doing things that you can continue to do.

No, I am not saying that all Biggest Loser contestants need to continue working out 8 hrs. a day for the rest of their lives....

But I am saying the best way to reach your goals is to change the way you LIVE. 

And then live that way.

But it has to be comfortable enough for you to enjoy living that way....

Is anyone even reading this anymore???

4.  Finally, follow-up with yourself.

Every year, my boss performs an annual review to see if I have gotten any closer to the goals we set last year.

Every year he talks about wanting to do these reviews more frequently to keep both of us more consistently working together toward the goals.

And that's what I am suggesting to you.

Do a "Quarterly Check-In". 

If your goal was weight loss, in March, check your scale and see if it's any lower than it was today. 

If it was Home Improvement related, make a honey-do list and get him going pick out a date to have your big project of the year done (mine is March 1!!!!). 

And if it was baby-making, when March 1st comes around, go buy this book (am I the only one who ever saw "The Other Sister" and laughed until they cried over this?!) and one of these and get to gettin!

And at the other end of this year, I hope we can all cross at least a couple things off of our list.

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