Good Intentions

Three Steps to Welcome Change

I looked at my list of things to change in 2018 and realized that less than half of the items on the list had been crossed off. This was supposed to be the year I made big changes. This was supposed to be the year to add more greens into my diet, become better at networking, and reduce the amount of time spent on social media platforms. What happened to all those good intentions?

I wanted to change my ways but I felt stuck. It was much easier easier to fill my time, and my diet, with procrastination and a lot of carbs. The minimal attempts made to switch things in my daily routine didn’t prevail.

I spent one week in January attempting to add one vegetable to my plate at lunch and dinner. Two days into this game plan, I found myself ordering takeout (lots of pasta and pizza). March was the month of committing to go to one networking event a week. Right before each one started, I found myself curled up on my couch instead. May was the month of ending my social media usage by 6pm every night. That didn’t last a night.

I decided that If I was going to welcome change into my life and tackle these to-do list items, I needed a little bit of willpower and a whole lot of a structure.

I turned to these three steps to make them more than good intentions:

I selected one networking event a week in June. Taking small steps to commit days before the event was scheduled: I signed up in advance, sent myself a calendar invite, and emailed the host letting him or her know I looked forward to the event. When my mind told me to just go home and watch TV instead of going to the event, I replayed the steps I took to get prepared. It made the decision to go a lot easier.

Every day in July, I read a blog post, listened to a podcast, or read a book written by a nutritionist to learn more about how to change my eating habits. I was able to pick up the basics of how much protein to have every day and what kinds of snacks will keep me awake and alert. After a few weeks of doing that, in order to get more help, I asked a friend, who recently switched to a plant-based diet, to be my accountability partner and my mentor.

August was the month I cut my social media usage by 75%. After making the commitment to spend less time on Facebook and researching tools that people have used in the past, I put a game plan into motion. Every time my hands were about to press a social media app, I set an alarm for five minutes. When the timer went off, It was time to log off. There were some days I pressed the snooze button on my social media alarm. When that happened, I made myself recall three beneficial things I took away from my time on social media. When there were no takeaways, I used that as a reminder to stay on track.

Commit time to work on your own personal goals, immerse yourself in research, learn from your mistakes, and implement what you’ve learned into your daily or weekly routine. Change can happen sooner than you expected.

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Other Resources:

8 Ways to Stay Motivated to Follow Through On Your Goals

6 Tips For Actually Setting Goals You’ll Follow Through With

Making Sure Your Employees Succeed

How Effective Goal Setting Motivates Employees

Why We Always End Up Overwhelmed By Our To-Do Lists