A client was reflecting recently in our session that they had re-started a habit they didn’t want and had given up for a while but when they went on holiday and their usual daily structure was disrupted the old habit crept back in. They were now getting themselves back on track and looking at what this meant now but also for the future to stop this in itself repeating. This can often be the case this time of year when our routine changes through going on holiday or with children off school etc.
There’s no time like the present to check in and re-focus
September (or anytime) can be a great time to get ourselves back on track, reflect on what has been working for us, what changes we would like to make and re-focus ourselves for the rest of the year. After all, whilst it feels like the year is passing by quickly there are still four months left of it.
Did you set yourself any goals for the year and have you reviewed them? How are you getting on. Have you been celebrating your progress and looking at the next steps. If you aren’t quite where you want to be or are the goals right for you, have you broken the steps down enough into meaningful and manageable chunks? Sometimes whilst we really want to achieve a goal often it can be overwhelming considering doing the goal as a whole but breaking it down into more manageable steps can really help. Earlier on this year I walked 100k over two days for charity from London to Brighton which can feel really overwhelming and exhausting just thinking about it! Whilst it was exhausting what helped was the carefully placed break stops at manageable intervals that we could aim for rather thinking about the whole walk and when we reached a huge hill at the 90k point we broke that down as well to small sections to reach.
Setting Intentions
Setting goals doesn’t have to be about completion of tasks – I also use it for setting intentions, ie about how I want to start my day, hours I work, ensuring I take breaks. As with goals don’t forget to be specific eg don’t say I want to leave work earlier instead decide what time would you like to leave work? Make sure it’s achievable. For example if you currently leave work at 7pm each day but technically could leave at 5.30pm, if you did decide you want to leave at 5.30pm, how realistic would that be to do straight away? How can you break down the goal into achievable steps to reach this final aim? Think about why you want to do it, what it will mean to you? What different will it make to your life. How will it make you feel? What changes will you see?
Be Specific and think about your Why
It is so important to be specific about what you want to achieve. Why are you doing this? What will it mean to achieve it? How will it make you feel? What difference will it make to your life? What difference will it make to other people’s lives? Then you will really find out if it is the right goal for you. Once you have established this, break down how you plan to do it. What support will you need, who from or where from and don’t forget to ask for it. Include timescales where this is relevant, give yourself milestones to aim for.