The Biggest Secret to Achieving Your Goals in 2017

2017 has not been too nice to me so far!

  notice how nothing is checked off yet?

I’ve been knocked down and out with the flu. I haven’t been this sick in a long time, and I mean many years!  and even when I did get sick, it was alwyas a 24 or 48 hour thing. This time, it’s been the better part of the week now, and I’m only starting to feel a bit better today.

Now, I could look at this 2 ways, one, I could moan and complain about how I wanted to attack my new 2017 goals right from the starting gate and now everything is ruined.

OR… two, I could realise that set backs ARE GOING TO HAPPEN and that this is only normal. I need to learn to not only expect set backs but prepare for them. 

So I’m going to give myself a pass for the days that the flu has prevented me from making progress on my goals and just keep on going. My planner’s goal page may look exactly like it did when I first decorated it, and that’s okay, tomorrow is another day, hopefully without any aches, pains or alternating chills and fever and I can begin tomorrow. 

Here's a peek at how I decorated it:

 You don’t need a Jan 1 or a Monday or tomorrow to begin your goals. All you need is NOW.  

 If you’ve gotten off to a faulty start on your goals, don’t just give up! 

We tend to start off all gung ho, mostly biting off more than we can chew, so maybe it’s best to slow down, take a step back and see what is possible, do-able and go from there.  

If you resolved to go to the gym 5 times a week for 45 mins, but only made there once, ask yourself why. Is it because you haven’t done any exercise in the last few years, besides running to catch the bus or to the fridge during commercials?  Then, maybe start with walking for 20 mins instead and build yourself up, first.

If you resolved to declutter every day (like me) and haven’t stuck to it religiously so far. Think. Is it because the habit isn’t quite installed in your brain. Habits take a long time to build up, so it’s easy to forget to do a new habit. Find a trigger, set an alarm and give your self some grace. It will come with time and hard work.

If you resolved to get more sleep and are still burning the midnight oil, don’t beat yourself up. You need to find the reason why you aren’t sticking with it and go slowly. If you’ve been going to bed at 1 or 2 am for a long time, your body will not be geared down for sleep at 11pm and you’ll be wide awake. So slowly reset your clock, by going to bed 10 minutes earlier for a few nights, then subtract another 10 minutes for another few nights and so on until you are going to bed when you feel you should to get a good nights’s sleep.

 If you’ve resolved to do something else, but can’t seem to get moving toward your goal, ask yourself why, really dig deep and then once you know what is holding you back, make slow, steady progress towards that goal instead of jumping in with both feet then beating yourself up when you don’t meet the impossible standard you’ve set for yourself.

The bottom line and big secret here is this: start small, work steadily at it and don't give up!

What resolutions are you struggling with keeping? Post them in the comments if you are having trouble figuring our why or how to go slow and steady and we can help!

Good luck and HAPPY PLANNING!