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Monday Motivation: New Year, New Goals, New Discipline

While I did choose a word of the year this year--I chose the word "healthy"--I also wrote a list of the many pieces of my life needing a little (or a lot) of improvement.  I guess I made a list of New Year's Resolutions--but, really, it was more of a reminder of the changes I could make in my life when I feel that everything isn't going as planned (or dreamed).  I created a vision board of some of my larger priorities for the year--and broke those down to monthly vision boards--and work now on weekly action plans to achieve some of those long-term goals.

Wow.  

It was really a lot of work to simply turn my "Be Healthy" goal into some sort of an actionable plan!  (And that was only one goal of many for the year!)  And--then it dawned on me--I haven't even started ANY of the hard work associated with ANY of my goals!  It's really pretty easy to decide what I would like to accomplish--and brainstorm to write down the many ways to accomplish those goals.

But.  

Do I actually have what it takes to follow through on the actions needed to accomplish the goals?
Do I have the discipline to do the things that I need to do?

Every Day?  

So--for today's Monday Motivation post, I wanted to talk a little about the value of discipline in achieving goals.


I think that one quote pretty much sums up all of my problems when it comes to failing a New Year's Resolution--or to giving up in the face of difficulties as I try to work toward my goals.

“Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” -Augusta F. Kantra 

We are faced with choices every day.  Okay--we are bombarded with distractions every day.

Water or soda?

Sleep in or get up early to have time to workout?

Play a board game with the kids--or scroll through Facebook?

Watch t.v. or finish those last two nagging items from the to-do list?

Pick up fast food for dinner--or plan ahead and cook at home?

Is instant gratification worth it--in the long run?  At the end of a long day, the last thing I really want to do is come home and spend an hour or so in the kitchen cooking dinner.  And--knowing that there is also a cleanup time at the end of the meal.  Picking up takeout or ordering a pizza is easy.   It's instant.  I pay my money, the restaurant gives me my food, the family eats, and we throw away the mess.    

But.

What does that "easy decision" do to my long term goals?  We just ate a dinner loaded with unhealthy fat, calories, and processed yuck--and it may not have even tasted that great.

What do I want most? Do I really want to be healthy?  Do I really want to spend more quality time with the family?  Do I really want to accomplish my career goals?    Or--am I going to be sucked into the instant-now moments of every day.  

I know what I want most in life.  
I have spent years identifying those things! 

Unfortunately--I haven't spent years developing the discipline to follow through on the actions necessary to achieve those goals.

My goal for this week is to push myself to be more disciplined in following my action plan.  I may even be able to make that discipline a habit.  At least--I may be able to make myself feel guilty about taking the "easy" road to instant gratification!

Maybe discipline should be my co-word of the year!  EVERY Year!

So--think about it today.  Before you make a decision--Is that what you want now...or what you want most?

Enjoy your week!
 

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1 Comments

  1. Very interesting. The food thing is something I am working on. I learned that I save a lot of money by cooking for a week at home and making sure I have everything ready to go in the morning before bed. I am not perfect in this area but I am working on it little by little.

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