Find Time by Easing into Some of Those Resolutions

The Time Finder with Paula Eder

The way you use your time is the way you live your life.

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Posted on January 9, 2009, under Transitions and Time.

Did you make resolutions for the New Year? Are you working toward changing a habit or a routine in your life?

Finding time to follow through on promises – especially promises to ourselves – can be a challenge, as many of us may be discovering right about now! Consistency and follow-through are very important and very trust-building. They are also necessary and practical tools for change. If it takes 21-28 days to create a new habit, as many believe, you can see how important follow through is!

Another important element in getting to your goal is patience. That’s because change takes time, and our great resolutions are going to take awhile to bear fruit. It’s easy to get discouraged if you are looking for quick or dramatic results and they don’t come. Keeping expectations in line with reality will definitely help you to keep going.

I posted a Tweet yesterday asking whether people had made resolutions about exercising in the New Year (and offering up our “Think-15” mantra as a good tip for following through). Wendy Battles (check out her Healthy Endeavors blog and site) responded with a cautionary tale about what can happen when resolutions are pursued with a zeal that gets us a little ahead of ourselves. She writes about overdoing it on Day One at a Step Aerobics class, and what she learned:

So this is a cautionary tale about easing in slowly (next time I’ll remember to do the first few classes without the risers so my calves don’t hurt so much) even when we think we’re in good shape. Mixing it up is all about making exercise more interesting and inviting but in a way that won’t have us recovering for more days than we spent at the gym doing the workout! You can best bet I’ll go a little easy the next few days.

The thing about real change is that it doesn’t happen overnight; it does take time. It’s an incremental process, getting from where you are to where you’d like to be. If you try to speed that process up, you are actually likely to slow yourself down.

There are no short-cuts with change. Finding time to ease into change will get you to your goal faster. That’s because there just won’t be as many stops and detours along the way. You’ll be able to follow through consistently, and the results, when they come, will be solid and satisfying!

How are you doing with your resolutions? When you face challenges or setbacks, what do you do? I’d love to hear!

What if you could find another hour every day? You can! For more Time Finding resources, you are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, twice-weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!

Let’s explore time together …