On this week’s blog, I wanted to round out what we spoke about in the last post, March Madness. In that post we reflected on our goals—the successes, challenges and learnings. As a spin-off, I encourage you to consider what you may need to start, stop, or continue going into quarter two (April – June).
When you think about goals, setting them and acting towards them, where do you stand? You can look back over the last week, month or even 12 months to see how your behavior has either moved you forward or kept you stagnant. Are you better, worse, or about the same this April in comparison to last? If you’re worse or not doing so hot, what are you going to stop? What can you start that would make your circumstance better? Or maybe you’re in a good place, so in what ways can you continue what you’ve been doing?
Start.
I mentioned “The 12-Week Year” in the previous post and I think it’s applicable here as a good starting point. Revisit the things you want to accomplish and break it up into smaller chunks. But be specific and work with a sense of urgency on your priority goals. What if all it took was 12 weeks of focus and discipline to lose 10 pounds, be able to run 3 miles without stopping, save an additional $500 or pay off your smallest debt? Whatever it is, create a daily/weekly plan that supports you achieving that goal in 12 weeks. But start! You’ve had three months now to get warmed up.
Stop.
On the flip side, assess behaviors or actions you’ve taken repeatedly over the last few months that are not really serving you meaningfully and stop doing them. If you go with the examples of losing weight, running, saving money or paying off debt, reflect on the actions you’ve taken that are either in favor of or against [losing weight, running, saving money or paying off debt]. Did you do a lot of late-night snacking, consume a lot of processed sweets, or not move your body through exercise enough? You want to run 3 miles without stopping, but did you follow a consistent weekly running plan?
Set yourself up for success. Create a plan, create contingency plans for the when original plan is thrown off (because, life), and stick to it on a weekly basis. You can make 1-3 daily targets for yourself to stay on track. Then once that 12-week mark hits, reassess. But stop sabotaging your progress.
Continue.
This one is easy. The stuff that’s working and beneficial to you or your goals, keep doing it. It’s likely automatic and part of your routine by now. If it’s not automatic, it’s at least in the back of your mind as something you need to check off or remember to do before the day ends. There’s magic in this continuation. Continuation reflects our dedication, consistency, discipline and maintenance in our efforts toward something…how we take care of our bodies, how we save or invest money, skills we’ve developed…you name it!
This post is for the person that needs a little encouragement and direction to get going or keep going. It’s easy to look at goal setting/goal achieving from a black and white lens –which often causes us to give up altogether if we don’t follow an exact script. So, I’m giving you permission to keep going no matter how messy, chaotic or inconsistent it has been. Rome wasn’t built in a day (as they say) and the version of yourself that you’re creating won’t either. STOP thinking it’ll happen overnight. START small. CONTINUE assessing, reassessing, starting, stopping and continuing. Seasons (most places) change and yours will too – just adapt.
Cheers to much success in quarter 2!
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