I know, this post is way late but I think it is still valuable and so, here it is.

In this new year we think of how we can better ourselves, whether that’s wanting to floss our teeth everyday, complete an activity or grow and mature as humans, aka: ‘New Years Resolutions’. This tradition of picking or deciding on a new goal to tackle in the new year is, lets face it, ambitious to say the least. Constantly adding another thing on our mental and/or physical plate is potentially reversing the intention of what we mean to do and thus not getting completed or being forgotten.

Today I’m going to expand on this mindset and hopefully assist in those of us who (sometimes) never accomplish our objectives.

This might be where you skip or click away, but wait just a moment because if you really want to change (for the better) or finally reach your goals then keep reading.

“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.” -Dr Phil

For example: If someone has a broken knee they can’t (or shouldn’t) try being a track runner in the new year. They will need to acknowledge that that is not a realistic expectation for them at that time.

Intention: An aim that guides action; an objective. One who intends to do or bring about

Intention is meaning to do something, or wanting to do it. We have intents to do many things in our lives; in present and future plans.

Discipline: Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.

This practice is (in short form) doing something that you intend to do no matter what; if it’s going for a run everyday, then you are going everyday; rain, snow or wind. Now this could look different depending on the person. Don’t get discipline confused with self punishment, you can reward yourself like ‘when I’m finished working out I’m going to go inside and watch a movie and have a sandwich’. It is hard and challenging but don’t give up, “don’t quit today, quit tomorrow, if you keep ‘quitting’ tomorrow, in life, you can do anything”.

Picture a pie chart;

You only have so much time in a day. So with that time you have choices on what to spend it on. The chart above shows one version of a days goings.

Whatever your job is, it most likely takes up the majority of your day or week. So thus the bigger wedge is for work

This (like most everything) can mean different things to different people, but personal time can be like; writing, painting, reading, watching TV, playing, etc. Whatever you do in your free time.

Now maintenance is like chores, house maintenance, cleaning, landscaping, cooking, weeding and so on.

As the title says, this is the time when you eat and maybe prep food. This part may or may not take most of your daily time, so this may also vary. Everyone’s gotta eat!

If we overload our plates we wont have time for other things we may want to do. It’s kind of like a budget; if we overrun the budget we will have to take money (or time) from something else, but if the budget is properly managed then everything in the individuals priority list will balance. If you want to take it a step further you can manage it so that your money/time is underrun or not all being used, like if you don’t use all the budgeted money/time you have some leftover, and it will give you a breathable buffer. To have margin in our lives. That is the best place to be, a place where you have time to take it slow sometimes or try something you wouldn’t ‘usually’ have tried.

Thank you for reading and please spread the word,

Le Stylo