Keeping the motivation going after January can be a tough one. And, if your goal getting was a bit questionable, you might be ready to throw in the towel. If you are ready to call it quits on those “New Year, New You” plans, hang on for a second. I have some thoughts to share.
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I want to start this by saying that I have not stayed on track with my own goals that I set for myself. In fact, I have just sat and reviewed the last month with my husband and he is kind of shocked with how badly I fell off the wagon with some things. For one, I did not get my 30 minutes of exercise every day, nor did I drink 1.5 litres of water a day. And, if you bothered to read my post on 1st January, you may have noticed that I did not do a blog post every day, I only posted 12 out of a possible 31. There were a lot of reasons why I messed up. I had a hard time getting into the swing of things, I have had a change of my copywriting clients, my dog Buffy died. Yes, January was a hard month in more ways than one. But, if you feel as if you should give up and the January blues have started, don’t quit just yet and join me in accepting those failures.
Failing is part of the process
Getting in shape when you have spent loads of time on the sofa is tough. The same thing applies to learning a new language, picking up a skill, or whatever your big plan was. For years, I have had the same goals and generally get nowhere with them because I fall off the wagon and never get back to it. That one slip up is enough to make you give up and never try again. But we have a full year to achieve our goals! My favourite example is quitting smoking. For nearly five years I tried to quit. The first year, I got a few days into January and caved and that was the end of the attempt. The next year was the same. By the third year, I realised that I had a full year to achieve my goal. I still struggled with the January blues and fell off the wagon, but I went into 2016 as a smoker and came out a non-smoker which is all that mattered. Don’t give up just yet, you still have 11 months to make it a success.
Little steps are better than none
Starting out on a journey for better health or improving your life is amazing. You are pumped up and ready to smash those goals! And then you fall off the wagon (see point one above) and you never go back to it because you don’t see any instant results. But even taking small steps are better than nothing. So you wanted to lose weight by running but only lost a couple of pounds? Even if your weight loss was tiny, you probably gained in other ways such as meeting new people, having a fun trip exploring your local streets as you run, and you might have gone from walking most of the time to running 5k. Weight loss might come eventually but there are always other ways to count your success. Keep up the healthy habits and they will count as small steps to help you achieve a very big goal.
Planning is everything
One of my favourite possessions at the moment is the giant diary that I received in my Business Box. This thing has everything that I need to plan my life out. There are habit trackers, routine helpers, goal pages, brain dump pages. I have used every section as much as I can to help me hit my goals for the year. I also used some tips that I have picked up from different people including setting alarms for everything. I have become a slave to my alarm system on my phone! This might sound excessive but it is the type of micro-management that I need to employ to stay on track. No matter what the goal is, plan accordingly. It might not work all of the time but it could help you be more mindful about how you spend your day.
Avoid distractions
I’ve written a few posts in the past about how I have tried things to help improve my life. The biggest thing I have noticed is that I am more productive when I avoid distractions. This is about more than putting down your phone, this is about being focused and not allowing your mind to wander off task. This can be tough especially if you are dragging your heels to do something that you don’t want to do. Sometimes I think that the distractions can be really damaging and can bring on the January blues. Is it tough? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. So put down the phone and focus on what you want to achieve.
What were your goals for 2022? And are you any closer to achieving them? Or did the January blues beat you? Let me know in the comments section.