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Hey Life Warrior!
This is always our first post of the year, so if you are following us for a long time, it will sound familiar to you. For different reasons, the beginning of the year usually comes with different resolutions and targets of different kinds, so we think it doesn’t hurt to refresh some ideas that will show you how to hit all your targets.
We made it! If you are reading this, you finally left 2022 behind and you are just starting a new adventure called 2023
Also, if you are like most of us, the new year is a great moment for making resolutions and try to include healthier habits in your life: get rid of a few kilos or pounds, sign up to a gym, go to bed earlier… the bad news is that these great resolutions rarely make it after the end of January.
There are many reasons for this relatively short life of our new year resolutions, but we could highlight these two:
- We want to radically change overnight, which makes it too difficult for us to stick to these changes: we start very restrictive and not sustainable diets, we try to go to the gym everyday when we actually hate going to the gym…
- We focus our objectives in the results (reduce X kilos of fat, gain X kilos of muscle…) and not in the process (control what we eat, be more active….). There is nothing wrong in setting result targets, but those results take very long to show up and we get tired before they do.
And what could we do to keep these resolutions for longer? Actually we can do a few things, so here we go with our infalible recipe to make those goals a reality
- This is a whole new lifestyle that you need to assume for good, not a temporary thing. Your current lifestyle has taken you to the point where you are today, which you want to change, so introducing new habits and giving them up in three months will take you back to where you are now. Today is the first day of your new life. How would you like this new life to be?
- Replace result targets with process targets, in this way you don’t need to wait three months to see results: one day when you have fulfilled your daily targets is a day in green. Focus on achieving as many consecutive green days as possible. Remember our foundational manifesto: change is a journey, not a single event; enjoy the trip and you will reach your destination before you realize
- See it as a total change, and include the 4 B’s we referred to in our super powers post: Brain, Body, Business and Behaviors. We will not jump onto all of them at once, but you should have targets for each of them.
- BRAIN: our brain is where everything begins. Anything we do starts with an instruction given by our brain; it is our main tool to achieve our goals. What are we going to make it work even better? There are many options; the most frequently seen is meditation. If meditation is not for you, no problem, you still have other options. Other things that work very well are daily practice of gratitude (big generator of Oxytocin and a great reliever of stress and depression) or learning a new skill, like learning a new language (there are great free apps like Duolingo, for this), learn how to play an instrument or any other manual skill. All these activities will stimulate areas of your brain that are less used to work. When was the last time that you did something for the first time?
- BODY: If our brain is the main tool to steer our life change, our body is the vehicle that will take us there. If your car is broken, with flat tires and rusty, it won’t take you anywhere so let’s get it in shape. As we mentioned before, training is necessary but it is only a part of it. Training one hour every day won’t make you an active person if the other 23 hours you are either sitting or laying down. Both (training and walking) are equally important, so you will need to set targets for both. Nutrition falls on this category as well. Our advice would be that as a first step you start being more conscious of what you really eat and drink. For this, first you need to know what is your daily recommended intake (you can do it through this link). Once you have your number, if you want to lose weight, multiply it by 0,8. If you want to gain weight, multiply it by 1,2 and if you want to stay where you are, then leave it as it is Then, install in your mobile one of the many apps available for calorie counting (My Fitness Pal or Fat Secret are the best known ones, but there are many others), keep a food log and compare your intake with your daily objective.
- BUSINESS: Of course, business or studies are our main occupation and the destination of a good chunk of our energy and efforts. How can we get better at this? We have many options. There are platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, Udacity… where you can get educated online at your own pace for a very reduced price. You can see up to 10 online learning platforms through this link.
- BEHAVIORS: As we said before, our current habits took us to the point where we are today, so if we want to make a change, there are things that I should start doing (better planning, assign the right priorities, follow and measure what I do…) and there are things that I should stop doing (improvise, postpone, waste time…). Decide which of those may have a bigger impact in achieving your targets and add them to your target list. Once you have decided which behaviors will be among your targets, reduce friction and add visibility to those you want to foster: leave a few apples visible on the kitchen counter if you want to eat more fruit, leave your training clothes visible before you go to sleep if you want to train in the morning, etc. In the same way, you should add friction and reduce visibility of those you would like to quit: if your problem is social media, leave your phone in a different room when you are working. If your problem is emotional eating don’t shop your groceries when you are hungry and avoid having at home the things you don’t want to eat.
This approach to target setting is inspired in this great video by Chase Hughes which we already mentioned in a previous post. If you did not have the chance to see it then, here you have it again:
The Game Plan
How can we put together all these pieces? One little step at a time
- Identify your goals for each one of the 4 B’s
- Choose just one or two of these objectives; you can choose the easiest ones to achieve so you can give motivation a little push or you can choose those which you think will be more impactful in your life
- Start your follow up. The objective is having 80% of your days in green. Once you have at least 21 consecutive days in green, you can add a new goal, and keep adding goals in this way until you introduce all of them. No rush, ensure you have turned a goal into a habit before adding a new one
- Plan weekly. Not all weeks are equal. There are holidays, business trips, etc. Take a few minutes on Sunday evening to define when you will do what
Here you can download a file you can use to do your follow up. It is designed for you to have 2 months view. It is not very sophisticated so if you have a very basic excel knowledge you can make your own at your own preferences
life-warrior-workbook-2023Download
We hope this post was useful for you and helps you reach your targets. If it was, please share it with other people that can benefit from it!!