Be disciplined with one new thing starting today. Gym, exercise, run, no snacking, spend less, bed by 10pm. Whatever your new ambition, be disciplined and start today.
Welcome to day 1. ?
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Category: Health & Fitness
The Storm Before The Calm
I always find December to be quite a challenge. There are the cooler days in the Northern Hemisphere, preparations for Christmas if you join in those festivities, parent teacher events, sporting finals, shorter days and end of year gatherings. Add the challenge of government rules around Covid to that and preparing and launching a book and there is even more to deal with.
Getting trees, shopping, wrapping, card writing and queuing to send cards or gifts all add on top of regular work and sleep. There is fun to be had but also a strain on your time. There are all the things I intend to do and each year I aim to start the process earlier. Thankfully my wife is very good at sorting these extra things out which always saves the day. Though we don’t get everything off of our wish list each year, we do get the essentials sorted.
And that is ok. We can’t do everything. We have to make priorities on our time and finances. Fortunately, there is a moment around 9am Christmas morning, I feel the calm settle in. What is done is done. Anything missed will be accepted or fixed later. And we can enjoy a few days of totally chilling. I love that.
The storm before the calm is necessary for me to appreciate the calm. And for those hours this weekend, I will be in complete bliss. Enjoy!
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Moderation Is Key
In all things, be mindful of moderation. Exercise, food, entertainment time, alcohol, caffeine, spending and work are all optimally experienced in moderation.
Sometimes we go overboard. It happens. But we can learn to moderate ourselves. At Christmas, enjoy a few snacks, one plate of food and two or three drinks over the day. More than this might have you feeling bloated, anxious or unwell. In addition, you not be pleased with your progress on longer term goals if you’re setting yourself back a little.
By all means, have fun and enjoy. Just see if your enjoyment can be maximised within a comfortable boundary.
The next two weeks will be challenging on so many fronts. Moderation is key to making the best of the holiday season.
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If Life Is Too Easy
You’ll find a way to mess it up. You don’t have to mess it up, but that does seem to be what many people do.
With ease comes complacency. Then you can fall behind the pack. After that it seems easier to play it cool then to try hard to catch back up. Then the seeds of self-destruction are being sown. You shrug it off and say you don’t care, when inside it is eating at you every minute. Envy, jealousy and hate become commonplace in your mind.
To turn that around you need gratitude. Appreciate all the little and large things in your life. Write it out. Don’t just think about it. Write out, ‘I am grateful for….’ It could be ‘I am grateful for my health, heat in my home, food on my table and a comfortable place to sleep.’
If life is too easy, we don’t appreciate it. There was no struggle. We want to prove we had to struggle so we create some drama. There is no need to do that. There is enough you are already struggling with unless you have the body, finances, relationship, education and career you always wanted. If not, get committed and be disciplined every day until those things are 100% how you want them. Until then, be grateful for every moment of being alive and being able to work toward your dreams.
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Self-Discipline Is Key
It feels easier in the moment not to be disciplined. You can shrug it off. Believe that you will do it later. You think you’ll get back on it again later in the week.
After a few weeks of great daily self-discipline will be the opposite. It’s harder in every moment. Though it gets easier with practice. But it is definitely harder to start. But the longer term benefits are great. If for no other reason than you can count on yourself to achieve when you say you will.
Usually though, we find other things in our way and don’t get back to it. A few weeks of that and we won’t feel so good about ourselves. It’s self-inflicted though.
If you find it hard to count on you, who else can? But you have the control to change it all around. Only say things you are actually going to do. Don’t over-commit. Set timers to help keep you on track. Be pleased with each commitment you stick to. Those are powerful building blocks.
Self-discipline is key. And that key will unlock all the doors you can imagine.
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It’s Hard To Change
Habits and patterns of behaviour can be incredibly difficult to change. Our environment has adapted to make the habits easier. In addition, our desire for familiarity adds to the challenge of changing. Finally, our self-image will stop us if the new habit is not in aligment with how we see ourselves.
Three things to make it easier to change are as follows:
- Adjust your environment to make the new habit easier and the old habit harder. For example, have all your clothes ready by your bed to go exercise when you wake up. Also, put your alarm on the other side of the room so you have to get out of bed to shut it off (and therefore not hit snooze and roll over). Put the volume high too so you need to go shut it off or turn it down.
- Be patient and know that it will take days, weeks and months to get familiar and comfortable with this new routine. The greater familiarity and better environment will make it all seem easier.
- Remind yourself daily, 10 times per day or more, that you are this new type of person. You could say, ‘I am an early morning person.’ You could add, ‘I am a fit and healthy person.’ By saying the ‘I am’ statements many times per day, while also doing steps 1 & 2, you will reinforce this new personality you are becoming. This will improve the chances of your mind and body accepting this new way of being and thriving with it.
Yes, it’s hard to change, but you can make it easier on yourself and increase your probability of success. Start today!
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Why Choose Anger?
You can choose your focus. Sure, different thoughts, good, bad and odd, come into your mind. However, you get to choose which ones you will focus on or hold onto.
You don’t have to swing at every pitch. You can let a few thoughts go by. Generate good thoughts. Let poor thoughts pass on by.
If you’re not doing this, ask yourself why. Do you enjoy the intensity of feeling? Are you keen to solve everyone else’s problems? All 8 billion people need you to help them?
There might be injustices in the world but your anger won’t reverse them. If you want to calmly write letters, lobby people with power to change things or put forward sensible arguments, then do it.
Try to stay away from the outrage, the anger, the poor thinking and the cherry-picked opinions and facts that keep you as a prisoner in that state of mind.
From what I can tell, the vast majority of issues come from a few people who have made poor decisions in life or else from misunderstandings or accidents. We would do better to reduce our involvement where accidents are more likely to occur. Also, take the time to understand a situation very well, from all sides, before being an outraged judge of it. Finally, volunteer to help kids and youth to improve their thinking and their decision making so they grow up to be good and useful members of society rather then destructive ones.
Redirect that powerful energy. Why choose anger? Especially when you can choose positive impact!
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Brush Your Teeth
Twice a day. It certainly seems like a good idea. Use toothpaste. But not very much. Certainly you don’t need the huge long amount shown on tv and in pictures.
And shut the water off except when spitting in the sink or quickly rinsing your toothbrush. Anything more is wasting water. Think of all the energy and cleaning it takes to get that water to run through your tap. Don’t waste it.
Flossing is also a good idea. Though certainly, brush your teeth.
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Out In The Cold
My oh my it was cold today. 0C for my run this morning. Being out in the cold can be invigorating and it can be deadly. Like everything in life, it depends. How long are you going to be in the cold? Are you dressed for it? Do you have a source of heat? Can you get inside, out of the conditions?
There is often one day that signifies that Winter is here and it’s time to have the heat on frequently. It seems like today was that day.
Enjoy the change in the weather. Embrace it. There is little more you can do when you are out in the cold.
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