January is almost gone, and the many good resolutions of December 31st are beginning to falter.
Sound familiar? It does to me.
The difference is that those excuses are from past years. Today on January 28, 2016, there hasn't been a blip in my dedication to this year's resolutions.
Instead of making 16 mini-resolutions and trying to stick to them all, I adopted a single mega-resolution: independence.
With that mega goal in my mind, I found it easy to make 7 sub-goals and stick to them.
No alcohol.
Many of the changes I've made so far have to do with financial independence. By plugging spending leaks like drinking and snacking out I've reduced my monthly expenditure. This means that money gets invested for retirement. It also means I'll need less for retirement as I've learned to spend less. (A quick calculation shows that investing my savings at 5% will yield £33,000 in 10 years! All from a a few simple changes to my habits!).
Reading more means I am less dependent on tv to entertain me. Not browsing news sites means my mind is free to do more productive things like improve my programming skills. Cycling and walking every day means I burn 5000 additional calories a week, and adheres to the guiding principle of 'muscle over motor'.
I skipped a few days running because I just didn't feel like running. No one else I know runs, they seem happy enough.
I decided that a few drinks on the weekend and one or two during the week are ok. After all, everybody else drinks, why should I be different.
I didn't bother making lunch last week so I ended up spending £20 on snacks and coffee. What difference does it make? I earn a salary, right?
Sound familiar? It does to me.
The difference is that those excuses are from past years. Today on January 28, 2016, there hasn't been a blip in my dedication to this year's resolutions.
Instead of making 16 mini-resolutions and trying to stick to them all, I adopted a single mega-resolution: independence.
With that mega goal in my mind, I found it easy to make 7 sub-goals and stick to them.
No alcohol.
No money spent on coffee or food out.
No reading daily news sites
No spending money on public transport (or cars).
Cutting my own hair.
Reading at least 40 pages a night.
Cycling to work everyday (snow, sleet or rain).
What's made the difference?
Many of the changes I've made so far have to do with financial independence. By plugging spending leaks like drinking and snacking out I've reduced my monthly expenditure. This means that money gets invested for retirement. It also means I'll need less for retirement as I've learned to spend less. (A quick calculation shows that investing my savings at 5% will yield £33,000 in 10 years! All from a a few simple changes to my habits!).
Reading more means I am less dependent on tv to entertain me. Not browsing news sites means my mind is free to do more productive things like improve my programming skills. Cycling and walking every day means I burn 5000 additional calories a week, and adheres to the guiding principle of 'muscle over motor'.
Why would a single goal of 'independence' have made it so much easier to stick to my resolutions? Because all those bad habits, the careless spending, the easy indulgence, were symptoms of something larger - a lack of self-reliance. I was outsourcing my life, because...because that's what everyone else does. I was relying on other people to do things which I could have done myself.
A mega-goal feeds into every decision you make; it helps you avoid bad decisions and make good ones. A mega goal helps you define bright-line rules that allow of no bending.
For example, no alcohol, means...no alcohol; ever. It doesn't mean: "drink a little less", or "try to spend less on a night out" - those kinds of decisions are notoriously hard to stick to.
A mega-goal helps you save on will power and avoid decision fatigue. You don't need to fight with yourself over whether or not to buy a coffee out, because you never buy coffee out. You don't need to worry about the prices on the menu, because you never eat out. Similarly, it doesn't matter what the weather is like today, because you cycle (or walk or run) every day. Mega-goals help you eliminate bad habits and replace them with good ones.
Though you may not have an explicit mega-goal yet - it may be lurking there behind all your other goals. Take a moment and examine your current goals. These may be things like: "Eat more healthily", "Learn a new skill", "Spend more time doing x" or "Focus more on my job"; you get the idea. Consider whether your goals are linked by a common theme, a vision of life that ties them all together.
It may be that you find a common theme for some goals, but that other goals don't fit the theme. Is it possible you have conflicting goals in your life?
Try it, it's a satisfying exercise, and it may help you discover your mega-goal.
A mega-goal feeds into every decision you make; it helps you avoid bad decisions and make good ones. A mega goal helps you define bright-line rules that allow of no bending.
For example, no alcohol, means...no alcohol; ever. It doesn't mean: "drink a little less", or "try to spend less on a night out" - those kinds of decisions are notoriously hard to stick to.
A mega-goal helps you save on will power and avoid decision fatigue. You don't need to fight with yourself over whether or not to buy a coffee out, because you never buy coffee out. You don't need to worry about the prices on the menu, because you never eat out. Similarly, it doesn't matter what the weather is like today, because you cycle (or walk or run) every day. Mega-goals help you eliminate bad habits and replace them with good ones.
Though you may not have an explicit mega-goal yet - it may be lurking there behind all your other goals. Take a moment and examine your current goals. These may be things like: "Eat more healthily", "Learn a new skill", "Spend more time doing x" or "Focus more on my job"; you get the idea. Consider whether your goals are linked by a common theme, a vision of life that ties them all together.
It may be that you find a common theme for some goals, but that other goals don't fit the theme. Is it possible you have conflicting goals in your life?
Try it, it's a satisfying exercise, and it may help you discover your mega-goal.
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