How to Prepare For The New Year…More/Less Exercise Continued

(Today we are building on the prompt from yesterday that you can read here)

One of the key components of lasting change is making a solid commitment that you can actually keep.

I would rather be fully committed to one change than halfheartedly committed to too many things at once.

The beauty of you, though, is that you are a system, which means when you make one change, it impacts the whole system. This is why people find that when they commit to exercise, for instance, their diet ends up improving. Or when people commit to a Sabbath each week, their relationships become stronger. One small and permanent change will create lasting impact on the whole “system” of you in ways that you can’t even fully imagine until it happens.

So today we are going to drive toward that change by revisiting our less/more exercise and getting closer to a commitment:

So get out that journal–let’s listen to what your life is telling you it needs.

1. Look back at your brainstormed words from yesterday in the “less” and “more” column, as well as the statements of intention that you drafted. Do they still ring true? Would you add any? Take any away? Don’t skip this step. Revisiting this list with fresh eyes is a key component to committing to change. Most of us want to change somewhat but don’t really want to do the work to change, so we self-sabatoge by picking too many goals so that we can claim immunity from the work it takes to become who we want to be. At this point, you should be honing in on 1-3 statements that feel true and important for your year.
2. Draw a new diagram on a fresh sheet in your journal. You can draw it as a circle or as a grid, whatever is more pleasing to you. Divide your circle or grid into the following pieces:
   • PERSONAL
   • WORK
   • HOME
   • FAMILY/RELATIONSHIPS

3. Ask yourself: how would making your more/less statement impact each of these areas of your life?

If you have written your intentions as tasks, consider zooming out to get to the heart of the matter. For instance, if one of my goals was “lose ten pounds”, a better intention might be “In 2020, I want to prioritize caring for myself physically.” then, I would write tasks under each category:

• Personal: I will care for myself physically by committing to a new eating plan.
• Work: I will care for myself physically by taking walking breaks and standing up every hour, and packing healthy snacks.
• Home: I will care for myself physically by limiting media consumption at night which tempts me to overeat.
• Family/Relationships: I will commit to caring for myself physically by joining a running group to allow me to make some new friends.

4. By honing in on one high-level commitment and breaking it into manageable sub-tasks, you are setting yourself up to actually change…not just dream about it.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about preparing for obstacles and how to launch into your new commitments in the new year!

Prefer videos? Head over to YouTube for the visual version of this exercise!