Good Morning, this is your Wellness Wake Up Call with Kristin Bogdonas, nutrition and wellness educator for University of Illinois Extension, serving Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, and Stark Counties.
As we make our way into a new decade I encourage you to take some time to reflect on the past year and make a plan for the year to come. If you’re feeling ambitious you may even want to make a plan for the next 10 years.
Whatever you choose to focus on make it a priority and be about it! Like the saying goes, “more is lost by indecision than wrong decision”. Do you find yourself making plans then making excuses not to follow through? It’s common to hem and haw over decisions large and small. Whether you’re shopping for a new house or a gym membership, be deliberate and confident in the choices you make.
Here are 3 steps for staying fully focused and bringing your goals to fruition.
#1. Develop new habits to support your goal. All of the choices you make day-to-day will determine your success. Does your current routine support your desired goal? If not, what changes do you need to make? We are all creatures of habit and it can be hard to change a routine even with the best intentions. Take a good hard look at your daily and weekly routine to determine if your habits are working for or against your desired goals.
Writing down your goals in several places will be advantageous. Put your written goals in places you’ll see often like the car or office, on the refrigerator or on the bathroom mirror so it’s the first thing you see each morning.
You can improve your success by just keeping it in focus every day. According to the Law of Attraction, you will attract more of what you think about the most.
#2. Eliminate distractions and time drains. After reviewing your daily and weekly routines, jot down the activities that take up large portions of time. For most people I imagine this being time spent watching television, scrolling on social media, YouTube or some other digital distractions. These activities may bring you some sort of satisfaction but ultimately they eat up a lot of time that could be used for something more productive.
Just as a food diary can be eye opening, keeping a log of a typical tech week may help identify habits to change. You don’t need to completely eliminate all of these of activities but try to keep them in check so you can focus on what matters most in your life. There are some useful apps that can help manage your digital diet including ZenScreen and QualityTime.
Whatever you perceive as the biggest waste of time in your week, adjust your routine and be patient. Adjustment takes time but don’t give up. With challenge comes change!
#3. Check-in often. It’s important to revisit your goals and check-in on a regular basis. In other words, keep your goals front and center. It’s easy to set your intentions but without a plan, that goal is just a wish. I would suggest rereading your goal every day, morning and night. This repetition and daily focus will help you manifest your dreams into reality.
A vision board is another way to manifest what you want out of life. Creating a collage of pictures and words can help you lay out your ideal future. You’ll develop an emotional connection with this vision you’ve created keeping you motivated and productive. Vision boards are like a lighthouse to guide you on even the cloudiest of days.
So to recap you’ll first want to make a plan with actionable steps and productive daily habits. Next eliminate the activities in your life that you view as time drains to stay fully focused. And the third step is to visualize your goals coming to life.
Barriers and setbacks are inevitable but don’t dwell on these for long. Find the momentum to keep going and never lose sight of the big picture. Change takes time so be kind to yourself, stay focused and remember- What’s the BEST that could happen?
This has been Kristin Bogdonas, nutrition & wellness educator for University of Illinois Extension, serving Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, and Stark Counties.
