Think of New Years. Everyone sets these amazing goals; eating better, cooking at home more, working out, saving money, and rarely do we actually keep and complete these goals. According to
Honestly, new habits are super difficult to make, harder to keep, especially when it involves breaking old habits. Then, in two or three weeks, when a friend asks, "hey, how's _______ going," it sucks to have to explain that it is simply no longer going.
I hated this cycle. I would work out for two or three days in a row, then quit. Or meal prep for one week, and end up still eating a bunch of Oreos because I was restricting myself. Finally, I figured out how to make goals for myself that I can continue and keep up with.
1. Make the goals for YOU
This is the absolute most important thing. It's a lot harder to work out every day when you just want your ex to regret loosing you than it is when you want to be healthy and are working out to feel better. If you're setting a goal to impress or receive feedback from an outside source, it's a lot less likely that you'll complete that goal. It takes a lot longer for other people to see results of changes your making than it will take for you to realize them.
If you're doing something solely for yourself, a lack of outside approval or acknowledgement won't be nearly as big of a deal. The reaction to "You look really good," will be an extra spurt of pride or motivation rather than relief that someone finally noticed.
Set goals for yourself that make you happy and you want to complete for yourself!
2. Give yourself logical reasoning
It's so easy to just start doing something with no backbone. I often wanted to work out to look hot and feel good in a bikini, or eat better to loose weight, but always failed.
Then, one day, I decided to start working out because I wanted to lift my mood, add activity and exercise into my life, and feel better on a daily basis, it was easy! Well, maybe not easy, but a lot easier than just jumping into it. I knew that I wanted to sculpt my legs, tighten my arms, and slim my tummy. I had long term reasoning and wanted specific results.
From my experience, it's a lot easier to give up on something when I have no clue of the specific ideas that I want than it is when I know exactly what I want.
3. Write it down
I have a notebook where I keep all of my goals. It has a textured black cover with very minimalistic gold lettering and gold wire binding. I love the way it looks, the paper is very good to write on without bleeding or smearing, and it is super aesthetically pleasing in my opinion.
I have budgeting, exercise, eating, and even small random goals in it. Everything is broken down in that book to help me save, grow, and live life to the fullest. I highly recommend getting a notebook that you like to keep all of your goals, thoughts, and todo lists in like I have.
4. Use time limits
This one adds to the motivation. "I will save $1,000 by June," is a lot easier to follow than "I want to save money." This can help you break up big goals and achieve them much easier.
5. Break up your goals
Maybe you want to eat at home everyday but Taco Tuesday. Maybe you want to meal plan every month. Maybe you want to save $10,000 this year. Maybe you want to pay off all of your debt. All of those can be really good, really big goals.
If you break them down, they will be much easier to achieve. Try eating at home twice a week for a month, then three times a week for a month, then jump to five for a month. Work up to all but Taco Tuesday. Try planning meals for every day, then plan for the week, and finally plan for the month. Maybe set a goal to save an amount on every pay check, then every month, and stay with that until it builds up to $10,000.
Breaking goals down like this turns one big mountain into a few small hills and makes the big goal a lot easier to achieve.
6. Appreciate little wins
Maybe you did five pushups against the counter today. Maybe you brought your lunch to work or school instead of ordering food or eating from the cafeteria. Maybe you didn't impulsively buy ten boxes of cereal like I did this weekend. No, you may not have achieved your big goal or even one of your little goals, but you definitely worked towards it. Reward yourself!!
I'm not saying go on a spontaneous vacation because you saved $5.00, I'm saying allow yourself to get excited about it. If you've eaten at home three days this week, responsibly reward yourself with a margarita next time you go out. The rewards should be proportional to the achieved task, but you should absolutely reward yourself for every win, even the itsy bitsy ones. Progress is progress, and that should be appreciated.
7. Allow mistakes
Don't get mad at yourself for eating a slice of cake when you're on a diet. Personally, I think diets are terrible, but that's an entirely additional post. If you skip a day, overspend a little, eat something you were trying to avoid, or anything against your goal, do not tear yourself down because of it. It's a small mistake, something that maybe could've been avoided, but hey, you're human. You're not supposed to be perfect!
You can absolutely pout a little and wish you hadn't made that mistake, but you're not allowed to talk down to yourself over it. We all make mistakes and we can just try again. Maybe restart tomorrow or work at it later today, but never allow a mistake to make you give up.
8. Don't ruin the whole day
This part could've been with the last habit, but I think it deserves it's own place. One mistake should not be allowed to ruin your whole day. If you messed up one part of your goal, don't let it mess up the rest. Maybe you wanted to work out every morning and you woke up late. That's okay!!! We can work out when our day is over or before bed.
You don't have to give up simply because it didn't work out exactly how you wanted it to! Try again, maybe change the goals up a little to make it easier, but don't give up on yourself.
9. Wake up early
We've all heard it, "early bird gets the worm." As old and annoying as that saying may be, it's completely true! From personal experience, I like to wake up an hour an a half before I need to leave for work. I like to shower at night, but I usually work out, make my bed, wash my face, pack my lunch, and eat breakfast in the mornings. Usually, I pack my lunch on Monday's, and have a little free time for the rest of the week.
Waking up an hour and a half before work allows me to do my morning routine without rushing or getting frustrated. If I want, I can make time to curl my hair or maybe make eggs and toast instead of microwaving oatmeal.
By the time I'm at work, I'm fully awake, energized from my workout and breakfast, and ready to have a productive and successful day.
One un-perk, is the fact that your body gets used to those habits, and now I wake up at 7 on most weekends, but I appreciate that as well because it allows me to get a lot of things done that I normally am not able to do.
10. Make daily lists
Okay, so I love lists. I make a todo list for the next day every night before bed, and then add to it throughout the next day. I try to cross off as many things as possible, but I do my best not to get upset about the things that I don't cross off.
There is a trick to this though. Half of my goals are big things that I have to make an effort to do; working out, taking my lunch to work, certain tasks at work. The other half of my goals are things that I do daily without thinking; brushing my teeth, morning and nightly skincare, making my bed, putting on makeup. I try to rotate these things to where every other task is something I do daily no matter what, even if I have to add in checking Instagram or flossing to make sure it can alternate.
This allows me to always cross off at least half of my list, and a lot of the times I get majority of those things completed. I still feel productive at the end of the day, and I'm happy about the tasks I have completed without being upset about the tasks that I've missed.
I love you
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for your input.
We love hearing from our readers <3