How To Look And Be Your Best Everyday.
New Years resolutions….. by now 25% of them have already been broken.
Why?
Because New Years Resolutions are generally based on you trying harder to make change, it requires will power which takes energy and we only have so much energy to expend each day, a recipe that results in the above statistic. It’s not always the lack of energy and will power that stops you from achieving your goals, it’s the environment you have set-up around you that sabotages you from achieving what you want.
It’s those things you put in place to make life easier but instead make us lazy and distract us from doing more important things. Remote controls, TV’s throughout the house, cars, computers, online shopping, mobile phones… who has rang someone in your family at the other end of the house because your too lazy to go and talk to them? 🙂 I have!
These are things that make up your environment and create the behaviours that give you the reality you live today. So scrap the try harder bit and instead change your environment in a way that will support what you want to change in your life.
Want to loose weight?
Don’t just join a gym, join a gym with a neighbour and take in turns each week to drive each other, then each week you will have someone beeping their horn out the front making you accountable and the next week you’ll do the same to them. Empty your cupboard of the food that does not support your goal and do your food shopping after you have eaten, cravings are at the lowest point at this time and it’s also good for your health to exercise up and down those isles after you have eaten.
Want to watch less TV?
Get rid of the TV’s in the bedroom, Kitchen and anywhere else in the house and just leave one in the TV/lounge room. Reduce the choices of programs, unsubscribe from foxtel.
Want to complete a course?
Get rid of distractions, commit with a study partner to meet at the local library not at home.
Want to look and be your best everyday?
Continually look at fashion magazines, subscribe to fashion magazines that appeal to you so they turn up on your door step each month. Give yourself more time to get ready each day, set your alarm half an hour earlier and put the clock on the other side of the room with no snooze feature so you have to get up. Buy a full length mirror if you do not have one. Learn what suits you and what does not, book your fashion stylist appointments for the year in advance to help sort your wardrobe for Spring/summer and Autumn/winter and to help continue to reinvent/develop your style, confidence and self-esteem. Also plan and book your hair stylist appointments in advance too.
Want to be more active?
Share a car with a neighbour so half a week you will have to walk, you’ll save money with this too.
Want to cut down on your alcohol consumption?
Don’t keep any alcohol at home, purchase only what you require when needed, consider purchasing just half bottles of wine.
So stop saying to yourself that you must try harder, instead take some time to think about the environments you live and work in that does not support the changes you want to make and then make the changes to these environments so they force you to do the things you need to do to achieve your goals, it will be the most productive time you spend all year.
Cindy x
All excellent ideas Cindy!
I found catching the bus to work instead of driving gave me more exercise too. Plus walking up the three flights of stairs instead of using the lift.
I found recording TV programs I wanted to watch freed my time too. If I need some down time, I have something I really want to watch and can fast forward thru the ads.
I agree, exercising with friends works. I do a 5 km walk every Sunday, but was getting a bit slack about it, so I invited all my friends to join me. We now have a regular group and only miss if it’s really wet. I now have a buddy at the gym too and we are much more regular attendees. (I met her at the gym).
It took me a year to lose 5 kg; the first six months was spent learning not to buy junk food and learning to be content with snacks of vegie sticks and home made hummus, nuts, dried fruit and cheese. I know they are high in calories, but at least they are healthy options and it didn’t seem to matter as I lost the 5 kg over the last six months of the year. As you say, it is about changing your environment.
Cindy, your suggestions are easy, they really work and I do hope they inspire many people 🙂
Thanks so much Lesley…..what you have achieved personally is inspirational…….the walking with friends idea is a great one! 🙂 xo
Hi Cindy,
Great practical suggestions!
You are spot on with environment changes, especially when New year’s resolutions are made out of everyday context. We mean well and feel we can conquer the world at that particular point in time. Unfortunately circumstances keep changing, sometimes out of our control and difficult to adapt to. I have found that old habits die hard, so working to develop new ones help them fade into the background.
To be successful in making the changes we wish for, we need to work on being disciplined. Make those resolutions a NEW HABIT. Repetition of these “good” habits, eventually leads to new behavioural patterns and onto a new lifestyle. Our bodies adapt quickly to change but the first few days/weeks are the difficult ones. With each passing day we feel better about ourselves and the chances of success are greater.
Onward and upward!
Nikki……all I can say to that is well said!!!!! xo