You Still Have Time

 You Still Have Time

by Jay Jay Speaks

April 26, 2012

As everyone knows spring is officially here. Eyes are turning towards yard work, gardening, spring planting and for some, the end of the school year. In case you haven’t given much thought to it, today is the 117^th day of the year. The 2012 calendar year is (31.97%) a third of the way over! So anyone who can remember back to their 2012 New Year’s Resolution or their new year’s commitments, this might be a good time to assess whether or not you are on track to accomplish your goal.

Most of us, if we’re going to be honest, have already fallen off the New Year’s Resolution wagon. Some fell by the wayside in the first week of January, while others made it up until the Superbowl (February 4, 2012). Still some of you fell off the wagon around St. Patrick’s Day (March 17, 2012). Whether you made it to April Fool’s Day maintaining your resolution and life style changes before “realizing the joke was on you” or not you still have time to get it together.

A lot can happen in 9 months. Someone could conceive, carry and give birth to another human being in the time remaining in this calendar year. Nine months is enough time to turn a business’ earnings around and move it from the red into the black. Nine months can resurrect or crucify a politician’s career. So just because you have fallen down a couple of times doesn’t mean you have to stay down for the rest of the year. But 9 months can be a long time if you don’t start moving forward now.

Most January resolutions involve making changes in our lives. We pledge and promise to lose weight, to get more fit, to stop smoking, curb drinking, spend more time with children, rekindle the fire in a relationship, mend broken relationships in the family, save more money, start a hobby, read more books, start a business, sign up for educational classes (college/university, community center, YMCA, public library, etc.) or to treat ourselves better. These promises are all worthwhile and will lead to a longer, happier, healthier more satisfying life if we keep them.  The problem is, often despite our best intentions, we just can’t maintain the same energy, vigor and enthusiasm it takes to fulfill these promises once we settle back into our normal (non-holiday season) lives.

Here’s something to keep in mind, “the key to success in making change is to be alive, open and present in order to receive what is unfolding” says, Ronald Alexander, Ph.D (Director of OpenMind Training Institute, Professor and Author). Ask yourself, “Am I alive, open and present?”  “Am I excited about the changes I need to make?”  “Have I been open to learning how to make the changes or have I been open to letting other people help me?” “ Am I focusing on what needs to be done in the moment or do I keep delaying what I need to do or do I get distracted while I’m doing it?”

The honest to goodness truth is, if your heart isn’t into making the changes you need to make you won’t make the changes or sustain whatever changes you have made. If you really don’t want to make your resolutions happen they won’t. It’s that simple.   So I encourage you to re-evaluate your resolution and find out if you really want to try to accomplish it. If you don’t want to work on that resolution then abandon it and select a new goal. If your evaluation reveals that you still want to uphold your resolution or life style change, THEN GO FOR IT! But this time work SMARTER NOT HARDER.

This time try using these simple steps:

1.       Focus on one piece at a time/one thing at a time –

Break your resolution down into steps or smaller bites. Making the larger goal a collection of mini-goals takes the pressure off of you to accomplish it all at once. You can feel a sense of pride as you check off the smaller steps each week rather than having to wait until the very end.

2.       Mutual Support –

Find positive, supportive, uplifting people who have the same resolution or goal to help hold you accountable.  The people in the support group may also have helpful information or a different approach to accomplishing your goal. You may be able to learn from their past mistakes and successes without having to spend the same amount of real life time as they did.

Experience IS NOT the best teacher, as many of us were once told. Learning from someone else’s experience is the best teacher. You can get all the wisdom, without the pain and scars. (LOL)

3.       Understand why –

Be very clear and specific with yourself as to why you want to make the change or uphold your resolution.  If you’ve changed your mind, then be honest. If it was someone else’s idea, then let it go. If you are afraid of the responsibility you’d have to undertake to achieve it, you may just need to grow up!

4.       Be inspired –

Spend at least 15 minutes each day reading, watching, participating or listening to something positive and empowering that inspires you. Whether that means you have to read in the bathroom at work, get up a little earlier, stay awake a little later, turn the television off, go for a walk to the park, update our IPOD, create your own Pandora Station or sit in your car when you get home/work just  make sure you give yourself this time. You’ll be amazed how just 15 minutes a day can change your whole day, week, month or life.

5.       Reward yourself and celebrate –

Reward yourself with a tangible gift or a much desired action when you accomplish one of your mini-goals or mini-steps towards the larger goal or resolution. Don’t overestimate the value and the motivation a little reward will bring.  Do you remember back in grade school when just getting a “GOLDEN STAR” or a “SMILEY FACE” sticker from your teacher, was like the BEST THING EVER? How much did that sticker actually cost compared to the since of pride and joy a child feels knowing they earned it. Well the little kid still resides in you.  Your reward doesn’t have to break the bank or bust your monthly budget. The reward can be something small, something simple and something special that has meaning to you.

So as you re-position yourself on this 117^th day of 2012, keep these 5 keys in mind. Spend some time talking to yourself and being honest with you. The year is still young but it is growing up fast. You still have time but don’t wait too long, summer is coming.

Don’t wait until Monday, do it today.