Avoid the Resolution Rut by making every day your best day is the first post in this New Year kick off on the blog.
How do you know if you’re stuck in a Resolution Rut that is keeping you from making every day your best day? Growth, progress, and success in acheiving goals builds enthusiasm and hope, adding energy and a positive outlook to make each day special.
Join me for a look at two common Resolution Ruts.
Rut #1: Fix-Her-Up
The first road to a Resolution Rut comes when we always make our goals from the perspective of fixing ourselves, strengthening weaknesses, overcoming failures, or satisfying a constant discontent with ourselves. This rut is entrenched in the glass-is-half-empty way of thinking. This motivation trap is consistently fed with a diet of media and worldly hype of beauty and success, and it is all about what we are not.
What would happen if you break out of this rut, and choose a goal to develop a strength, to take a success to the next level, or to learn something new?
How will 2014 be different if we embrace what’s right rather than lament what’s wrong? What if we focus on turning talents into strengths and gifts into blessings?
“People are at their best when they are able to use their talents and abilities — the traits and behaviors at which they naturally excel” (Gallup Strength Center). Most of us spend much more time trying to fix weaknesses rather than develop gifts that create energy and build joy into life.
Add developing a strength to your fix-it arsenal and watch this new year take off. <Tweet this. Put Strengths Finder on your reading list for a practical tool for identifying and defining your strengths. The book comes with an access code to online testing to identify your strengths. Worth a look for sure.
Rut#2: Repeat Play
Another way we can get stuck in a Resolution Rut is when our goals and resolutions stay the same year after year with no forward progress. If your goals have been exactly the same for the last five years, you just might be stuck on Repeat Play. <Tweet this.
I know from personal experience that this is an easy place to get caught. For years my goals have revolved around loosing the same 20 pounds and overcoming my scatter-brain tendencies. The best way out of this stuck place is to look at why we keep struggling with the same things. Are we making forward progress or just spinning our wheels?
Sometimes break-through is as simple as identifying the small steps that lead to meeting a goal. Other times it is as difficult as hanging on to motivation and determination over the long haul. If you are stuck on Repeat Play, look for the secondary things that may be inhibiting your success.
Maybe the goal is too big, or two vague. There is a world of difference between a generic, desire to loose weight and an intentional choice to develop healthy eating habits, work out 4 days a week, and be accountable to someone. Do you need more information, support, accountability, or better planning? Taking time to identify what’s getting in the way can help us get some forward traction on those things that never seem to change.
This past year, I was able to move out of the Repeat Play Rut on weight loss for the first time since battling Graves Disease 13 years ago. Having a plan and accountability was extremely helpful in turning a goal into reality. This year, loosing weight is still on my list, but this time my goal involves losing another 15 pounds and maintaining motivation to build on last year’s progress. Experience break-through in something that’s been on my list for years provides a positive outlook to embrace each day with hope.
Four things that helped me out of my Resolution Rut:
1. The inspiration of friends that have experienced success. Watching someone I know work toward a goal successfully was very motivating and gave me the courage to try again.
2. Prayer and seeking to grow in the spiritual fruit of self-discipline enabled me to stay focused on my source of strength.
3. Good information and a good plan. When you’re stuck on Repeat Play, there are times when it helps to get outside yourself and apply the expertise of others.
3. I used a health coach to provide encouragement and accountability to meet my goals.
Before and After
Just so you know, I am still working on the scatter-brain thing. Some goals we have to keep working at over time, but getting out of a Resolution Rut and experiencing forward progress can help us move out of a rut in other areas as well.
What steps can you take today to get out of a Resolution Rut?
Share your thoughts on this and let’s encourage one another. What you share may be the exact thing that someone else needs to read. Leave your comments here, and I will be praying that God will bring you out of your Resolution Rut with grace and joy!
Past Posts on New Year’s Goals:
How to Change Your Life with One Simple Thing
Printable List: Simple Things to Change Your Life
A Little Fun with New Year’s Resolutions
So glad you're here. I help busy women—gals like you— build healthy habits for living well with biblical wisdom and practical steps to deepen your faith, increase your hope, and thrive in your purpose.
Hey Ginger!! I love this post and I am so glad you were able to move forward in your goal towards healthier eating!!! Today marks two years for Bill and I on our healthy journey and I am so glad to have broken out of this rut and that we have moved forward!!!! The things that have worked for me were similar to yours – I shared my goal with others and kept myself accountable by posting an update each week on Facebook; then once we hit a plateau in our weight-loss I found a health coach as well – Emma with Beach Body. And, you are right, because of my success over the past two years I am going into 2014 even more excited and motivated to keep moving forward!!!! Here’s to a FABULOUS 2014 for all of us!!! God bless!!
Here’s the double blessing. As you shared your journey, you motivated me to believe that just maybe I could make some progress in an area of long-term rut dwelling! Thanks for the courage to share your life with others!