Imagine How Much I Can Get Done In January

lieselq

This is my motto for right now...for the beginning of a new me...it's been growing inside of me since before the first day of 2014. I'm using the New Year to capitalize on my inner drive. I'm also thankful for friends who are a step ahead of me and have offered encouraging words and inspiration as well as created goal-oriented 'get it done' challenges! (On Facebook, the group that I belong to is Risk Living's Challenge for Change.)

Yesterday I had a completely new thought, for me. Usually when I think of 'Resolutions' and 'Fitness Goals,' etc., I am imagining either cognitively or not, a one-year plan.

Yesterday my entirely new thought was "Imagine How Much I Can Get Done In January!"

Then I let myself imagine for a bit where I could be...really in actuality with good tenacity and persistence...where I could actually be in 30 days. Where could I be in terms of all of my goals: paying bills (aka improving my credit rating), eating healthy (aka continued healing of my body), consistently coming to MyFitnessPal and entering my information (aka becoming more aware of my eating patterns), conscientiously fulfilling my commitment to my group to move my body in a forward motion for one hour each day, and any other goals I had set for myself to become the person I would more enjoy being and to create the lifestyle I would more enjoy having.

Imagining it in 30 days (not completely fulfilled, of course, but well begun) puts an impetus on the matter that imagining it in 365 days does not...for me anyway.

In the early morning when I first wake up and am making some very important decisions like to walk or not to walk? When I'm on the 30 day plan, that is no longer even an optional choice.

At night when I'm in someone else's home babysitting their children and my late night "I'm Hungry" mind kicks in...making goal in the morning helps me to resist looking in the freezer for something unkind to my gut yet palatable to my taste buds and my brain's 'Pleasure Center.'

How much CAN I get done in January?

What clothes, already in my closet, might fit in 30 days with a determined effort?

What it changes, for me, is how often I (consciously or unconsciously) give myself permission to stay in bed or cheat or choose a more palatable over less healthy eating/lifestyle action.

Good luck to everyone in the new year!!

aschroeder2749

I LOVE this thought process. I joined a group here the other day in which the goal was to lose 5 lbs this month. I believe I'll have better success with short-term goals. It makes it not as daunting, and the rewards and satisfaction are immediate.