Let me start by wishing you all a Happy New Year. Trust you all enjoyed the Christmas break.
With the start of a new year, we also get the opportunity to reset our focus on what we want to achieve. Some of you out there, I know you will have taken a look at your performance last year and will have given some thought on where you need to focus your attention to this year to see some improvement. Hats off to those who have done this, but as we all know making New Year resolutions and following though on them can be challenging and for many people actually achieving them is nigh on impossible. Taking Action is often the most difficult thing to do and continue doing.
To change old habits or develop a new skill, requires putting effort in and sustaining this effort over time. The difficulty being, things (life) can get in the way and the easy option is to maintain status quo - to revert back to old habits; its where we feel most comfortable after all . The only problem being, we then see the same results and become frustrated.
My blog this week is going to focus on one of the "things" that stops you from taking action to help kickstart your new year.
No Meaning
All to often we give up simply because we can't really see a good reason for doing it. What seemed like a good idea on January 1st, after a few goes suddenly appears to be waste of our time. The real reason is because we haven't truly connected with WHY we need to do it. The activity we said we would commit to has no real meaning to us. We need to make a connection with WHY that is so powerful that it keeps our attention and forces us to follow through - no matter what.
Let me give you an example (this is a real example of mine) - Doing exercises to unlock hip flexors twice a week. This exercise routine only takes 30 minutes to complete, but in the past I've made excuses not to, or fooled myself into thinking I'll do it tomorrow - and of course tomorrow never happens. The consequences of not doing the exercises gives me severe pain in my lower back, knee and hip. The thought of not being able to sleep due to discomfort and unable to play golf or walk my dog has given my the REAL WHY I need to follow through on my exercise. Pain can be a great motivator.
There is a great video on a Ted talk given by Simon Sinek which is about WHY - for anyone who has not seen it here is a link.
To ensure you follow through on your goal(s) find your true WHY.
Next week I'll be going through another "thing" that holds you back - Good luck and get in touch let me know how you get on or if you have any questions.
If you would like to learn more about the mental side of the game visit our website and get in touch. Hope you enjoyed this week's blog, please drop me an email and let me know what you think, I would love to hear from you. Visit our website and check out our other blogs, there's something in there for everyone.